Rising or falling GDP is not a good measure for the benefit of the population if the distribution of the GDP in the population is not taken into account.
The average GDP of pretty much all western nations has been rising for the past 70 years.
However, in the last forty years the share of GDP for the average western citizen (mostly through the static or failing real value of wages) has, at best, remained static and in several places fallen.
To put it another way, nations have become wealthier while most of their people have not.