BETTER LIFE INDEX AS A MEASURE OF PROSPERITY (Indeks Lepszego Zycia jako miernik dobrobytu)

Article contains a critique of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is considered, even by many experts, as an optimal measure of the social welfare. Meanwhile, the index has many shortcomings, and the consequence is- that despite the increasing GDP- the level of human life may be getting lower. Therefore, for several decades the economists have been looking for more adequate measures of welfare, such as economic, social and psychological measures. An interesting proposal of this type of index is the Better Life Index (BLI), proposed by the OECD, which allows making a holistic approach to the issue of social welfare. The article contains the discussion of the components of this index and the position of Poland compared to other countries in the ranking, based on BLI.