Not just GDP per capita: human development also depends on mental wellbeing

The COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing conflicts, the consequences of climate change and a more and more uncertain macroeconomic context have increased inequality and caused greater political and institutional polarisation in society, reducing people’s level of trust in others and in the community in general. Not surprisingly, for two years in a row - and for the first time since 1990 - the Human Development Index (HDI) has fallen in nine out of ten countries. The Index is an indicator of macroeconomic development that provides information on quality of life by taking into account not only countries' GDP per capita, but also literacy and life expectancy. That is one of the main conclusions of the latest Human Development Report prepared by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), presented for the first time in Italy with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Venice’s Procuratie Vecchie, the historical building that is now the home of Generali’s foundation, The Human Safety Net.

The research highlights that the increasing number of extreme weather events, the loss of biodiversity, and the spread of previously unknown viruses (as well as more familiar threats, such as economic and food insecurity, discrimination, and violence) can cause mental distress and disorders affecting one in eight people worldwide.

Faced with an increasingly hectic pace of life and growing uncertainty about the future, mental well-being and psychological resilience are two increasingly key factors for human development. Mental distress is an obstacle to development, as it compromises people’s ability to fulfill their potential. What’s more, exposure to stress also increases and perpetuates inequalities in intergenerational cycles of mental distress and exacerbates socioeconomic difficulties.

The WHO guidelines

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, mental health “is an integral component” of both physical and psychological well-being that “underpins our individual and collective abilities to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world we live in”. So, it is “a basic human right (...) for personal, community and socio-economic development”.

All WHO Member States are therefore committed to implementing the 2013-2030 Global Plan of Action for Mental Health, which aims to strengthen effective leadership and governance, provide comprehensive, integrated, and responsive community-based care, implement promotion and prevention strategies, improve information systems, and promote research. The Plain aims to turn new uncertainties into opportunities and focus on human development, in order to foster creative and cooperative capabilities. To achieve this, the WHO Plan recommends focusing on the “three I’s”: Invest, Insure, Innovate, in line with the UNDP Human Development Report’s conclusions. That means:

• investing in resources and capacities;
• focusing on insurance, including social insurance, to protect people from the inevitable consequences of uncertain times by safeguarding their capacities;
• and promoting innovation to develop skills able to meet future challenges.

The role of insurance and Generali’s strategy

The insurance sector represents an essential stabilising force in the face of uncertainty, as it offers protection to people by innovating and modernising services. All this while never losing sight of the need for financial inclusion and ensuring access to financial and insurance services to reduce poverty and inequality, even for the most vulnerable.

Generali is also committed to ensuring employee wellbeing, in line with the People Strategy that drives all Group priorities and initiatives for the 2022-2024 period: “GPeople24 – Ready for the Next”. The goal is to enhance the potential of all Generali people and support the new strategy by implementing the Next Normal model, focusing on the following priority areas:

• fostering the development of a sustainable and meritocratic culture, which is customer-driven and open to innovation;
• adopting a sustainable digital-based hybrid working model; and activating a more effective and efficient organisation;
• equipping people with the skills they need to enact the strategy, focussing on digital technology, customers, and sustainability;
• creating a working environment that values diversity, ensures equality, and encourages inclusion.

In short, that means building a culture of wellbeing, to enable people to project themselves within a shared system of motivations, values and results and at the same time contribute to the creation of a society in which it is possible to unleash the full potential of every individual, without losing sight of the importance of psychological wellbeing. Because as we are faced with present uncertainties, it is precisely in the various spheres of associated life that the conditions promoting or inhibiting human development are created, as noted by Erich Fromm in his Psychoanalysis of Contemporary Society (1955): “Society can have two functions: it can promote healthy human development, and it can delay it. In most cases, the community does both, and the problem is only about the extent and direction in which its positive and negative influence exert”.