I was talking to someone the other day and casually mentioned the topic of building a global “Value of Life” index. He quickly responded, “Value of life is a tough one, it’s so subjective based on who is valuing which life. I’d prefer the quality of life.”

The problem with this statement is that “Quality of Life” is an economic indicator, whereas “Value of Life” would be a human rights indicator. What’s makes it even more challenging is that “Value of Life” isn’t something we really think or talk about in the west. We’re taught to measure our lives by its quality.

But before humans everywhere can lead “quality lives,” their lives have to matter to their own government (and to them). In that sense, measuring for “Quality of Life” does not make as much sense when their lives are seen as insignificant.

Point is—we’re skipping a big step here. If we want to build a safer, stronger world, what we’re looking at is a global reorientation toward the value of life, starting with key human rights indicators such as a “Value of Life” index to facilitate the reorientation.

Most importantly, “Value of Life” isn’t just an indicator for lesser developed countries. If we think we’ve done our work in the west, look at the BLM movement. We absolutely have not.