If your GDP is "growing" 2%, and your population is growing 1.2%, and inflation is 1%, you're getting less productive -- not more. Your quality of life is probably declining.

I'm not saying this is the case. I'm just saying -- it is possible to "grow" without improvement. See the Malthusian Trap that plagued humanity from the beginning of time until the Industrial Revolution.

It's probably better to just measure productivity & quality of life directly. It isn't easy. But it's not easy to measure GDP either. Measure what matters, you know?