In Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics model, what does the inner ring represent?

In Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics model, the inner ring represents the social foundation.

The social foundation marks the minimum conditions needed for people to lead lives of dignity, including essentials such as food, health, education, income, housing, and political voice. Falling inside this ring represents a shortfall in human wellbeing.

The model’s outer ring is the ecological ceiling, which represents planetary boundaries such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and freshwater use. The safe and just space for humanity lies between the two rings: above the social foundation but below the ecological ceiling.

Economist Kate Raworth developed the framework as an alternative to treating endless economic growth as the primary measure of progress. The word “doughnut” describes the diagram’s shape, not a food policy or a recommendation about pastry consumption.