Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the National Accounts measure economic wellbeing according to an internationally agreed system, but they are increasingly seen as measuring only part of societal wellbeing. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is exploring existing indicators and datasets that measure societal wellbeing beyond economic growth.
Publications
Boundaries and statistics on town centres.
Statistics on indicators monitoring progress against the Child Poverty Strategy include data for Wales.
The Community Life Survey is designed to track the latest trends and developments across areas key to encouraging social action and empowering communities. Topics covered include social action, community engagement and charitable giving.
The Bulletin provides summary information as well as some trend data from previous years. It includes information on - smoking, household composition, debt, internet access, health, sport and leisure, environmental issues, mobile phones and job applications.
Presents recent estimates of the number of families by type, people in families by family type and children in families by type. Types of family include married couple families, cohabiting couple families and lone parent families. Tables on household size, household types and people in different household types are also provided. These include estimates of people living alone, multi-family households and households where members are all unrelated.
Information collected from the Family Resources Survey.
Describes the different experiences of social groups in the UK today in six key areas: education, work, income, living standards, health, and participation.
This report reviews: What is subjective wellbeing and why should we measure it? How subjective wellbeing is currently measured in the UK - what subjective wellbeing questions are already being asked on major social surveys in the UK The potential uses of subjective wellbeing data collected via these surveys It concludes that subjective wellbeing is a valid construct that can be measured reliably. This is the first output of ONS' work on subjective wellbeing.
This statistical release covers a number of topics such as health, education etc.
This survey is a large-scale social survey of the views and behaviours of people across Wales.
Key statistics related to rural Scotland that provide a picture of the lives of its people.
This paper describes ONS’s work on developing statistics on social capital in the UK.
An established reference source, Social Trends draws together social and economic data from a wide range of government departments and other organisations; it paints a broad picture of UK society today, and how it has been changing.
Annual information on numbers receiving housing support through the Supporting People Programme.
This article was commissioned by ONS, and establishes how time-use data can be used to measure National Well-being. It describes the potential uses of time-use data and concludes that time diaries provide a means for integrating various distinct, potentially opposing, views of economic output and aggregate well-being.
Looks at data from the Family Resources Survey classified by urban/rural regions.
Brings together a selection of key statistics for Wales.
Overview
The need to measure wellbeing beyond economic growth is recognised within economics. One phrase often used, drawing inspiration from a speech by Robert Kennedy in 1968, is that ‘there is more to life than GDP’.
In the 1970s, Richard Easterlin found that once a certain GDP is reached, the strength of the relationship between income and reported levels of happiness declines markedly. The Easterlin paradox appears that reported happiness has remained broadly level in the US over 30 years while GDP per head in real terms has continued on an upward trend.
Part of the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) analysis programme is to address the priorities of children, ageing, public sector productivity and societal welfare. To do this, ONS aims to understand more fully the requirements for measures beyond GDP and add insight and value to existing measures and relevant datasets for the determination, design and evaluation of policy.
There is no shortage of relevant existing data to help build pictures of societal wellbeing and to assess our quality of life. Clearly, our overall wellbeing is likely to reflect health, education, culture, safety and a sense of community, among other things. But any of the strands may be valued more or less by individuals and groups within society.
‘Measuring Societal Wellbeing’ provides an overview of measuring societal wellbeing and considers the main approaches emerging for how it should be measured.
Technical Data
Measuring societal wellbeing is one of the Office for National Statistics’s (ONS) current analytical priorities, along with children and young people, ageing and public sector productivity. It was identified as a priority issue and as the underlying theme for Social Trends 38, because for an increasing number of public policy needs, and in political and public debate, there is more to life than GDP.
Sustainable economic growth and economic well-being remain important. However, international bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) are, through the 2007 Istanbul Declaration, promoting debate about what progress means and how a shared view of societal wellbeing can be produced, based on high-quality statistics.
ONS has currently released ‘Measuring Societal Wellbeing’, and plans to publish additional reports that fully embrace its past, present and future outputs in order to feed into the evaluation of wellbeing.
Glossary
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Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
Defra is a UK Government department. Its mission is to enable everyone to live within their environmental means. This is most clearly exemplified by the need to tackle climate change internationally, through domestic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to secure a healthy and diverse natural environment. The 2005 Sustainable Development Strategy set out a commitment for government to explore the concept of wellbeing.
Contact Details
For statistical enquiries about this topic, please contact:
Equalities and Wellbeing Branch
Email: equalitiesandwellbeing@ons.gsi.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 1633 455010
Rm 1.024 ONS, Office for National Statistics Cardiff Road Newport NP10 8XG
