At a time when wealth across the globe is on the rise overall, a new World Bank report warns, that such is happening at the expense of future prosperity and the worsening inequalities.

In the report titled “Changing Wealth of Nations” released today, the bank warned that countries depleting their resources in favour of short-term gains are putting their economies on an unsustainable development path.

The Changing Wealth of Nations 2021, the bank said in a statement, tracks the wealth of 146 countries between 1995 and 2018, by measuring the economic value of renewable natural capital (such as forests, cropland, and ocean resources), nonrenewable natural capital (such as minerals and fossil fuels), human capital (earnings over a person’s lifetime), produced capital (such as buildings and infrastructure), and net foreign assets. The report accounts for blue natural capital—in the form of mangroves and ocean fisheries—for the first time.

Commenting on the report, the World Bank’s Managing Director for Development Policy and Partnerships, Mari Pangestu, said “a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the sustainability of wealth is crucial to a green, resilient, and inclusive future. It is essential that renewable natural capital and human capital are given the same importance as more traditional sources of economic growth, so that policymakers take steps to enable long-term prosperity.”

Although indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are traditionally used to measure economic growth, the report called for more emphasis on the importance of natural, human, and produced capital resources to understand whether growth is sustainable.