Since 1961, Alberta has experienced increases in the gap between the rich and the poor, household debt, obesity, and problem gambling.

The social indicators are comprised of a set of accounts that relate to time use, social capital and human health and wellness. This document provides a brief description of each social indicator.

To read the summary, click on an indicator in the left pane under the GPI Indicator Reports Menu. Indicator summaries are available for all 51 indicators. The summaries are derived from technical reports. Some of these reports are also available for download.

13. Poverty

High levels of poverty, like high levels of income inequality erode social well-being. This summary assesses the trends in poverty in Alberta.

14. Income Distribution

The GDP is indifferent to how money and wealth distribution affect social cohesion. This GPI indicator takes a closer look at the growing gap between the top and bottom income groups in Alberta.

15. Unemployment rate

The GPI accounts place value on free time, but recognizes that forced free time may be a social burden. This account examines unemployment in Alberta.

16. Under-employment

This indicator examines part-time work and full-time work to gain a better understanding of how underemployment affects Albertans.

17. Paid Work Time

This summary looks at trends in paid work in Alberta.

18. Household Work

Unpaid household duties include domestic work (e.g., cleaning), parenting, eldercare, household management, shopping and transportation and travel related to these activities. The amount of time spent on household duties between 1961 and 2003 are analysed.

19. Parenting and Eldercare

The parenting and eldercare account investigates trends in time spent raising children and looking after aging parents and suggests reasons for its decline.

20. Free Time

This indicator looks at how much free time Albertans have. Despite a rise is overall free time, studies show that women are increasingly stressed for time as they juggle work, family and household commitments.

21. Volunteerism

The GDP measures only economic transactions that take place in the market and so does not account for volunteer work. Shifts from volunteerism to paid work is a false addition to the GDP as true social production has not changed.

22. Commuting Time

According to the GDP, the more money people spend on getting to and from work the better off society is. The GPI, on the other hand calls this kind of spending "regrettable" and accounts for it as a loss.

23. Life Expectancy

Life expectancy is one of the key indicators of human health and wellness. The GPI accounts include various measures of health and wellness as proxies for health and well-being.

24. Premature Mortality

Premature mortality is measured in terms of person years of life lost and is an important measure of human health and well-being.

25. Infant Mortality

The Alberta GPI accounts give a brief evaluation of children's health, examining trends in infant mortality and low birth-weight babies.

26. Obesity

Obesity is an increasingly important dimension of human health as more Albertans, Canadians and Americans are overweight. The GPI looks at the trend in obesity rates in Alberta.

27. Suicide

The GPI accounts consider suicide a regrettable action and a social cost. This summary examines suicide rates in relation to economic growth with some disturbing observations.

28. Drug Use (youth)

Drug use and the economy of the drug trade affects all of society through health costs, crime, financial stress and other negative impacts on social cohesion. This summary discusses the economic and social costs of drug use in Alberta.

29. Auto Crashes

Auto crashes impose a significant cost to society. Expenditures related to automobile accidents increase the GDP. The GPI identifies such expenditures as "regrettable".

30. Divorce

The number of marriages ending in divorce in Alberta are assessed. Increased divorce rates means that more children are experiencing their parents' separation and growing up in single parent homes.

31. Crime

The more crime we have, the more money we spend on home security systems, security guards, burglar alarms, policing, courts, corrections and other items. These expenses are counted as a positive addition to the GDP because it does not distinguish between expenditures that contribute to a society's well-being and those that do not.

32. Problem Gambling

Is a rise in gambling expenditures a sign of an unhealthy society or a financially stressed society that seeks a "get-rich-quick" solution. This indicator examines the question.

33. Voter Participation

Voter participation is one measure of the health of democracy. This account examines several possible ways to measure the health of democracy and presents data on the trend in voter participation.

34. Educational Attainment

A rise in GDP would suggest that we are reaping the benefits of a more educated population, however the evidence of stagnant real wages and disposable income suggests that not everyone is sharing in the returns on knowledge investments.