Economic growth has long been the main yardstick of national progress, but many now question whether Gross Domestic Product (GDP) truly reflects a country's success. GDP measures the total value of goods and services produced within a nation, but it overlooks factors like mental health, social equality, environmental stability, and overall life satisfaction. This has led to increasing interest in happiness indices—alternative metrics that assess how people actually experience their lives. Key concepts in this debate include subjective well-being, quality of life, and sustainable development. Happiness indices, such as the World Happiness Report and Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) model, aim to capture more holistic dimensions of progress—community strength, environmental balance, and emotional well-being. GDP, by contrast, reflects economic output but not whether that wealth improves lives or is distributed fairly. Historically, GDP emerged during the 1930s as a tool for tracking industrial output and wartime production, not life quality. By the 21st century, critics began arguing that nations could be “richer” without being “happier.” Countries like Finland, Denmark, and New Zealand have experimented with well-being frameworks that influence policy and budgeting. The broader discussion asks whether governments should redefine success: should progress be measured by financial productivity, or by the collective happiness and health of their citizens?