We may know what economic growth is, but what does it really mean for a society?

It points to expansion (or contraction) in economic terms as measured by GDP. But the headline GDP figure alone fails to capture broader dimensions of economic progress. The quality or character of growth matters too, in terms of things like innovation, equality, sustainability and resilience.

This was the clear message from leaders and experts who recently convened at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting 2025 in Davos. Faster economic growth is needed, but growth must become more meaningful.

From reviving productivity with artificial intelligence to rethinking fiscal policies, discussions in Davos focused on numerous ways to move things in the right direction. Here are six key takeaways:

Global economic growth is not just sputtering – the fact that it’s actually trending below levels typical for the past 30 years should make everyone sit up and pay attention.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts average growth of 3% over the next five years, the lowest in decades; Ana Botin, executive chair of Banco Santander, said this has real consequences for everyone.

“Growth is not an abstraction, it’s the base of our future prosperity and stability,” she said during a session on the Future of Growth. “The difference between 3% and 5% growth means $3 trillion per year – that’s $500 for each person on the planet. That’s a huge amount that would allow us to pay down debt faster, reduce inequality, innovate more.”

Economic growth is not just about numbers, it’s about improving lives, reducing inequality and driving innovation.

Economic expansion “opens job opportunities and lifts all boats,” said Nasdaq Chair and Chief Executive Adena Friedman. One particular way in which it can generate broadly shared benefits is by helping address the climate crisis, through new spending and opportunities for innovation, she said.

Yet, for Daniel Susskind, research professor at King’s College London, “the pursuit of prosperity has come at an enormous price – the destruction of the natural environment, the decimation of local cultures and communities, the emergence of vast inequalities.”

The consensus: future growth can and must be different.

“This is the moment when the opportunities for accelerating progress and growth by accelerating investment in countries, by accelerating the diffusion of new technology into counties, and by providing them with the long-term affordable finance that they need to undertake those investments could really transform the next decade,” said Masood Ahmed, president emeritus at the Center for Global Development, in the Rewriting Development session.

Stagnant productivity weighs on global growth prospects, but artificial intelligence and automation may offer a way to reverse this trend, leaders said.

“AI holds untold promise for humanity,” said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres during a special address.

Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers also highlighted the potential of new technologies. “Artificial intelligence will ultimately be to the internet as the computer was to the calculator,” he said. “There hasn’t been a moment when the technological possibilities ahead of the world have been as bright as they are today.”

“The potential of AI to lift global growth is significant,” said IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, with AI estimated to add 0.8% to the annual global growth.

But there is a notable gap between the opportunities to leverage AI in advanced and emerging economies, she added.

Concerns related to labour market disruption and the impact of AI on inequality were also at the centre of Davos discussions.

Roughly three-quarters of countries cannot progress quickly with AI, according to Amin Nasser, president and chief executive of Aramco, as they lack “the infrastructure [and] … the talent to scale it up and utilize all of the data,” he said during a session on Industries in the Intelligent Age.

For Georgieva, the takeaway is simple: “Make sure that artificial intelligence is not a privilege of the few and is accessible for the rest of the world.”

Human ingenuity and skills are essential for enabling faster and broader growth – and improved well-being is ultimately one of the key objectives of economic policy.

Strong growth is underpinned and driven by social frameworks, such as an “education system that allows people to unleash their human potential,” said Adena Friedman in the Future of Growth session.

She also highlighted the importance of an education system that focuses on innovation and creativity as “a foundation of the future.”

Investing in human capital is one of a few “no-regret” economic strategies, according to Faisal Alibrahim, Minister of Economy and Planning of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “These are no-regret things that are long-term driven, that need to happen regardless of what you want to do, whether you want to utilize a lost opportunity or you want to catch up.”

Yet, “the most neglected dimension of strategy nationally in most parts of the world is social policy,” warned the President of Singapore, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, in the Global Economic Outlook session.

“You need social policy on an industrial scale. That means maximizing human potential in every segment of the population. It means findings ways of recreating social compacts so that people feel some sense of solidarity.”

With public debt levels at record highs, many nations may simply not have access the funds necessary to finance the growth they want – and need.

All of the speakers in the Global Economic Outlook session ranked high sovereign debt levels as one of the top near-term risks the world faces.

“Recognizing the scale of the problem is very important,” IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath said during the Navigating the Fiscal Squeeze session. “We’re at $100 trillion in terms of global public debt now, and we are headed towards 100% of GDP public debt by 2030.”

The fiscal challenges are particularly grave for many developing economies, leaders said.

Roughly 3.3 billion people live in countries that are spending more on servicing debt than on education or health, UN Trade and Development Secretary-General Rebeca Grynspan said during the session Back into the Black: How to Ease the Debt Burden?

“[This means] growth and development cannot happen,” she said. “We might not have a debt default, but we have a development default, and that will come to haunt us, because if you cannot have growth in these countries, you won’t be able to get onto a sustainable path.”

For François Villeroy de Galhau, governor of France’s Central Bank, “fiscal policy will not be growth efficient” without recognizing the qualitative aspects. This means looking not only at the quantitative side of the fiscal budget, but also at what spending and tax credits are used for.

“It’s very important in the environment of adaptation, climate shocks, supply shocks, to have more investment and less current expenditures,” he said during the Where are Interest Rates Going? session.

“Fiscal expenditures must be long-term oriented, growth-oriented,” he added, but “we are not yet there.”

Strong infrastructure – both physical and digital – is an essential foundation for growth, said participants.

Infrastructure offers a transformational opportunity to lower-income countries not just in terms of their economies, but also in development and transitioning towards clean energy, as King Letsie III of Lesotho made clear in the Back to Basics: Getting Public Infrastructure Right session.

“As we’ve built [hydropower] dams, roads were built where they didn’t exist before, clinics were built – a lot of development took place because of infrastructure,” he said. “It’s also contributed to the generation of renewable energy … that has produced up to 45% of our domestic power needs.”

https://www.weforum.org/stories/2025/02/6-things-we-learned-about-the-future-of-growth-at-davos-2025/