This report details the Initiative's findings, recommendations, and methodology used to construct the Global Youth Wellbeing Index. It is the hope of the Initiative that policymakers, donors, and youth are able to use this tool as the world moves forward with the post-2015 agenda.

We argue against the use of composite indices, such as the Human Development Index (HDI), in economic history. We show that the HDI can be interpreted as a formal representation of the analyst’s ethical system. We support our claim by introducing a new class of paternalistic social welfare...