Perfect Capita · The new GDP

A prosperous nation is one that reaches every person.

GDP tells a nation how much it produces. It cannot tell a nation whether that prosperity reaches everyone. Perfect Capita can.

PERFECT CAPITA, DEFINED

The yearly cost, per person, of delivering all Seven Human Guarantees to everyone in a nation.

GDP per capitaWhat a nation produces, per person.
Perfect CapitaWhat it costs, per person, to reach everyone.

The distance between the two is what Capital Architecture is designed to finance.

A family sharing a meal at home
Children learning in a bright classroom
A nurse caring for a mother and child
A busy market full of fresh produce
Children drinking clean water from a tap

The Seven Human Guarantees

Seven conditions of a dignified life.

What every nation should make possible for every person. Choose a guarantee to read its promise, how it is measured and how each nation costs it.

The Seven Human Guarantees of Perfect CapitaFOODWATERSHELTERENERGYEDUCATIONHEALTHLIVELIHOODSPERFECT CAPITA7HUMAN GUARANTEES

GUARANTEE 01 OF 07

Food

Every person can eat nutritious food, every day, throughout life.

Measured as
The share of people who can afford a healthy diet.
Costed, nation by nation, from
A local, nutritious food basket.

Three numbers for every nation

One measure, two companions.

Every Perfect Nations blueprint reports the same three numbers, so any nation can be read against any other.

  • THE MEASUREPerfect Capita

    The yearly cost, per person, of delivering all seven guarantees to everyone, set in the nation’s own prices.

    Split between what households pay, what public budgets carry and what new capital must finance.
  • COMPANION ICoverage

    How fully the seven are delivered today, out of 100. A nation’s score is its weakest guarantee.

    Each guarantee is measured strictly, from published international and national data.
  • COMPANION IIThe Gap

    The people still short of a guarantee, and the yearly cost of reaching them.

    The Gap is the brief for Capital Architecture: the instruments that close it.

The weakest-guarantee rule

A nation is only as strong as the guarantee it provides least.

No nation can make up for failing in health by excelling in education. Averages hide the people left out; Perfect Capita does not. Coverage is set by the weakest of the seven, so every guarantee must be met.

FoodWaterShelterEnergyEducationGAPHealthLivelihoodsEVERYPERSON100 of 100
Illustration. Health has the widest gap to full coverage, so Health sets the nation’s Coverage.

It has been done

Five nations. Real progress.

Every guarantee has already been delivered at national scale somewhere in the world. Perfect Capita asks for all seven, in every nation.

  • Health

    Thailand

    99.5% of the population with health protection

    Universal health coverage achieved in 2002. The coverage figure is reported by the World Bank in 2012.

    World Bank, 2012
  • Energy

    Vietnam

    99%+ with electricity, from 14 per cent in 1993

    Electricity access expanded from 14 per cent in 1993 to over 99 per cent, as reported in 2018.

    World Bank, 2018
  • Shelter

    Singapore

    91.2% of resident households own their home

    77.2 per cent of households live in public housing built by the state.

    Singapore Department of Statistics, 2025
  • Food

    Brazil

    <2.5% undernourished: off the FAO Hunger Map

    Brazil returned below the FAO Hunger Map threshold in the 2025 reporting edition.

    FAO, SOFI 2025
  • Health

    Rwanda

    88%+ covered by community health insurance

    More than 88 per cent coverage in 2025, according to the RSSB chief executive as reported by The New Times.

    The New Times, 2025Read the blueprint

Where Perfect Capita fits

Built to stand beside the frameworks nations already use.

A proposed contribution to the development agenda beyond 2030: it complements the Sustainable Development Goals and GDP, and goes one step further by costing and financing the floor.

  • The SDGsWhat the world seeks to achieve: 17 goals and 169 targets.
    The Seven Human GuaranteesWhat every person should receive: seven, measured person by person.
  • GDP per capitaHow much an economy produces.
    Perfect CapitaWhether that prosperity reaches everyone, and what it costs to make sure it does.
  • Multidimensional povertyWhich deprivations people experience.
    The GapWhat it will take, in people and in money, to end those shortfalls.
  • Development financeHow money is mobilised.
    Capital ArchitectureHow the seven guarantees are financed, from a nation’s own assets.

How it is set

One framework for the world. One price for each nation.

PERFECT NATIONS SETSThe framework

What each guarantee means, the minimum it requires, and how achievement is measured. The same seven, measured the same way, in every nation.

EACH NATION SETS, WITH USThe price

What it costs to deliver the seven in that nation, in its own prices, from credible data and open assumptions. No single dollar figure is imposed on Afghanistan, Barbados or Rwanda.

GuaranteeMeasured, in every nation, asCosted, in each nation, from
FoodThe share of people who can afford a healthy diet.A local, nutritious food basket.
WaterThe share of people with safely managed water and sanitation.Connection, treatment and running costs.
ShelterThe share of people in safe, adequate, affordable housing.Housing and the infrastructure around it.
EnergyThe share of households with reliable electricity and clean cooking.The cost of household energy services.
EducationThe share of people reaching and completing quality education.The cost per learner.
HealthCoverage of essential care without financial hardship.Health services and financial protection.
LivelihoodsThe share of people with enough earned income or income protection.A living-income benchmark and the social protection gap.

The first nation measured

Barbados: 69 of 100, held by food.

Barbados delivers water, shelter and energy to almost everyone. About three in ten Barbadians are moderately or severely food insecure, so food sets its Coverage. The blueprint shows the full wheel, its sources and the instruments that could close the Gap.

  • 69Coverage, out of 100, set by food
  • ~88,000Barbadians short of the food guarantee
  • To setPerfect Capita, costed with Barbados

Perfect Nations estimate, to be confirmed with Barbados. Food: FAO, 2022, applied to a population of 282,623.

A multigenerational family celebrating together
Shelter · LivelihoodsFamilies with a home and an income
Students from many backgrounds in a schoolyard
EducationA school within reach
Farmers bringing in a harvest
Food · WaterFood within reach

AI-generated illustrations of the world Perfect Capita seeks to enable.

Nation by nation

Explore your nation’s path to Perfect Capita.

What each guarantee costs there, what the nation already holds, and the capital structure that closes the Gap.

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