Measuring National Wellbeing in United Kingdom

„It has long been argued that the progress of the country should not be measured by looking just at growth in gross domestic product (GDP). For a full picture of how a country is doing, we need to look at wider measures of economic and social progress, including the impact on the environment.

Developing better measures of well-being and progress is a common international goal. At the 2007 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) World Forum, a declaration was issued calling for the production of high-quality facts-based information that can be used by all of society to form a shared view of national well-being and its evolution over time. This was followed at the European level by the European Commission communication on Beyond GDP. The international well-being agenda also gained momentum following the landmark report in 2009 from the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress.

Within the UK, there is a commitment to developing wider measures of well-being so that government policies can be more tailored to the things that matter.

Wider and systematic consideration of well-being has the potential to lead to better decisions by government, markets and the public and, as such, better outcomes.“ More.