For more than 10 years, the OECD has been looking beyond the functioning of the economic system to the diverse experiences and living conditions of people and households. Measuring well-being and progress is a key priority that the OECD is pursuing through research, dissemination of existing data via the OECD
Better Life Initiative and key events such as the OECD World Forum on “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”.
The website provides background information on three streams of work being led by the OECD Statistics Directorate in the area of the measurement of well-being. The measuring well-being agenda calls for improved and new statistical measures, aimed at filling the gap between standard economic statistics (which are mainly focused on measuring the volume of market activity and related macro-economic statistics) and indicators that have a more direct bearing on people's life. Work on the latter aspect can be grouped under the three conceptual pillars of the OECD Measuring Progress Framework:
Material conditions measuring people's material conditions (i.e. their command over commodities) requires looking not only at their income but also at their assets and consumption expenditures, and at how these economic resources are distributed among different people and population groups. It also requires focusing on the economic resources of households rather than on measures pertaining to the economic system as a whole (e.g. GDP per capita). The OECD is working in different directions such as: measuring disparities in national accounts; measuring services produced by households for their own use; exploring the differences between growth in real GDP per capita and real household income per capita; and undertaking an integrated analysis of microdata on household income, expenditures and wealth.
Quality of life Economic resources, while important, are not all that matters for people's well-being. Health, human contact, education, environmental quality, civic engagement, governance, security and free time are all fundamental to our quality of life, as are people's subjective experiences of life, i.e. their feelings and evaluations. Measuring quality of life requires looking at all of these elements as a whole: economic and non-economic, subjective and objective as well as at disparities across population groups. The OECD is working to further develop its guidelines on the measurement of subjective well-being, it is measuring job quality and it is looking at what the notions of inclusive growth mean for well-being.
Sustainability of well-being over time can be assessed by looking at the set of key economic, environmental, social and human assets transmitted from current to future generations, and how these assets are affected by today's actions, policies and behaviours. The OECD is working to develop metrics that better capture whether the broad notion of economic, natural, social and human capital are sustainable.
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Better Life Initiative websiteHTML
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Better Life Initiative brochurePDF
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Guidelines on Measuring TrustPDF
Full Report. Published 23 November 2017.
Trust, both interpersonal trust, and trust in institutions, is a key ingredient of growth, societal well-being and governance. As a first step to improving existing measures of trust, the OECD Guidelines on Measuring Trust provide international recommendations on collecting, publishing, and analysing trust data to encourage their use by National Statistical Offices (NSOs).
The Guidelines also outline why measures of trust are relevant for monitoring and policy making, and why NSOs have a critical role in enhancing the usefulness of existing trust measures. Besides looking at the statistical quality of trust measures, best approaches for measuring trust in a reliable and consistent way and guidance for reporting, interpretation and analysis are provided. A number of prototype survey modules that national and international agencies can use in their household surveys are included.
These Guidelines have been produced as part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, a pioneering project launched in 2011, with the objective to measure society’s progress across eleven domains of well-being. They complement a series of similar measurement guidelines on subjective well-being, micro statistics on household wealth, integrated analysis of the distribution on household income, consumption and wealth, as well as the quality of the working environment.
See wikiprogress article for more information: http://wikiprogress.org/articles/initiatives/oecd-guidelines-measuring-trust/
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Guidelines on Measuring the Quality of the Working EnvironmentPDF
Full Report. Published 23 November 2017.
This publication presents an internationally agreed set of guidelines for producing more comparable statistics on the quality of the working environment, a concept that encompasses all the non-pecuniary aspects of one's job, and is one of the three dimensions of the OECD Job Quality framework. These Guidelines take stock of current data availability in this field, review the analytic and policy uses of these measures, proposes a conceptual framework based on 6 dimensions and 17 characteristics (ranging from physical risk factors and work intensity, through to task discretion, autonomy and opportunities for self-realisation), assesses the statistical quality of measures in this field, and provides guidance to data producers and users on methodological challenges in this field. These Guidelines also include a number of prototype surveys modules that national and international agencies could use in their surveys.
These Guidelines have been produced as part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, a pioneering project launched in 2011 with the objective of measuring society's conditions across 11 dimensions of people's well-being. They follow on from similar measurement guidelines on subjective well-being, micro statistics on household wealth, integrated analysis of the distribution on household income, consumption and wealth, as well as trust.
See wikiprogress article for more information: http://wikiprogress.org/articles/initiatives/oecd-guidelines-quality-working-environment/
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How's Life? 2017PDF
Full Report. Published 15 November 2017.
How’s Life? 2017 charts the promises and pitfalls for people’s well-being in 35 OECD countries and 6 partner countries. It presents the latest evidence from 50 indicators, covering both current well-being outcomes and resources for future well-being, and including changes since 2005. During this period there have been signs of progress, but gains in some aspects of life have been offset by losses elsewhere. This fourth edition highlights the many faces of inequality, showing that gaps in people’s achievements and opportunities extend right across the different dimensions of well-being. It exposes divisions according to age, gender, and education, and reveals pockets of inequality in all OECD countries. It also brings to light the many well-being disadvantages that migrants face in adapting to life abroad. Additionally, the report examines governance as seen from the citizen’s perspective, revealing gaps between public institutions and the people they serve. Finally, it provides a country-by-country perspective, pinpointing strengths, challenges and changes in well-being over time in 41 country profiles.
How’s Life? is part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, which features a range of studies and analysis about people’s well-being and how to measure it, and includes the interactive Better Life Index website.
See wikiprogress article for more information: http://wikiprogress.org/articles/initiatives/hows-life-2017-measuring-well-being/
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How's Life? 2015PDF
Full Report. Published 13 October 2015.
How’s Life? 2015 describes the essential ingredients that shape people’s well-being in OECD and partner countries. It includes a wide variety of statistics, capturing both material well-being (such as income, jobs and housing) and the broader quality of people’s lives (such as their health, education, work-life balance, environment, social connections, civic engagement, subjective well-being and safety). The report documents the latest evidence on well-being, as well as changes over time, and the distribution of well-being outcomes among different groups of the population.
This third edition of How’s Life? develops our understanding of well-being in new ways. There is a special focus on child well-being, which finds that not all children are getting a good start in life, and those living in less affluent families face more risks to their well-being. The report introduces new measures to capture some of the natural, human, social and economic resources that play a role in supporting well-being over time. A chapter on volunteering suggests that volunteer work can create a virtuous circle: doing good makes people feel good, and brings a variety of other well-being benefits to both volunteers and to society at large. Finally, the report looks at inequalities in well-being across different regions within countries, demonstrating that where people live can shape their opportunities for living well.
How’s Life? is part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, which features a series of publications on measuring well-being, as well as the Better Life Index, an interactive website that aims to involve citizens in the debate about what a better life means to them.
See wikiprogress article for more information: http://wikiprogress.org/articles/initiatives/hows-life-2015-measuring-well-being/
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How's Life? 2013 PDF
Full Report. Published 5 November 2013.
Every person aspires to a good life. But what does “a good or a better life” mean? The second edition of How’s Life? provides an update on the most important aspects that shape people’s lives and well-being: income, jobs, housing, health, work-life balance, education, social connections, civic engagement and governance, environment, personal security and subjective well-being. It paints a comprehensive picture of well-being in OECD countries and other major economies, by looking at people’s material living conditions and quality of life across the population. Through a wide range of comparable well-being indicators, the report shows that countries perform differently in the various dimensions of well-being. For instance, low-income countries in the OECD area tend to do very well in subjective well-being and work-life balance, while their level of material well-being is much lower than that of other OECD countries. The report responds to the needs of citizens for better information on well-being and the needs of policy makers to give a more accurate picture of societal progress.
In addition, the report contains in-depth studies of four key cross-cutting issues in well-being that are particularly relevant. First, this report analyses how well-being has changed during the global economic and financial crisis. Even though some effects of the crisis may become visible only in the long-term, the report finds that the Great Recession has large implications for both economic and non-economic well-being of households. Secondly, the report looks at gender differences in well-being, showing that the traditional gender gap in favour of men has reduced but has not disappeared. It also finds that women and men do well in different areas of well-being and that they are increasingly sharing tasks and roles. Third, it looks at the quality of employment and well-being in the workplace. The report presents evidence on the main factors that drive people’s commitment at work and are key to strengthening their capacity to cope with demanding jobs. Finally, the last chapter of the report studies the links between current and future well-being. It looks at ways to define and measure sustainability of wellbeing over time.
See wikiprogress article for more information: http://wikiprogress.org/articles/initiatives/hows-life-2013-measuring-well-being/
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How Was Life? Global Well-being since 1820PDF
Full report. Published on October 02, 2014
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Guidelines for Micro Statistics on Household WealthPDF
Full Report. Published 12 June 2013.
The OECD Guidelines for Micro Statistics on Household Wealth presents an internationally agreed set of guidelines for producing micro statistics on household wealth, it addresses the common conceptual, definitional and practical problems that countries face in producing such statistics, and is meant to improve the comparability of the currently available country data.
The Guidelines, prepared by an international expert group working under the auspices of the OECD, propose a set of standard concepts, definitions and classifications for micro wealth statistics, and cover different phases in the statistical production process, including sources and methods for measuring particular forms of wealth, best practice in using household surveys or other sources to compile wealth statistics, the development of analytic measures, the dissemination of data, and data quality assurance.
See wikiprogress article for more information: http://wikiprogress.org/articles/archive/oecd-guidelines-micro-statistics-household-wealth/
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Framework for Statistics on the Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and WealthPDF
Full Report. Published 12 June 2013.
The OECD Framework for Statistics on the Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth presents an internationally agreed framework to support the joint analysis of micro-level statistics on household income, consumption and wealth. Its aim is to extend the existing international frameworks for measuring household income and consumption at the micro level to include wealth, and describes income, consumption and wealth as three separate but interrelated dimensions of people’s economic well-being.
The framework, prepared by an international expert group working under the auspices of the OECD, is intended to assist national statistical offices and other data producers to develop data sets at the household level that are suitable for integrated analysis, and for facilitating comparisons between countries. The Framework is widely applicable, with relevance to countries that are at different stages of statistical development, that have different statistical infrastructures, and that operate in different economic and social environments.
See wikiprogress article for more information: http://wikiprogress.org/articles/archive/oecd-framework-statistics-distribution-household-income-consumption-wealth/
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Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-beingPDF
Full Report. Published 20 March 2013.
Being able to measure people’s quality of life is fundamental when assessing the progress of societies. There is now widespread acknowledgement that measuring subjective well-being is an essential part of measuring quality of life alongside other social and economic dimensions. As a first step to improving the measures of quality of life, the OECD has produced Guidelines which provide advice on the collection and use of measures of subjective well-being. These Guidelines have been produced as part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, a pioneering project launched in 2011, with the objective to measure society’s progress across eleven domains of well-being, ranging from jobs, health and housing, through to civic engagement and the environment.
These Guidelines represent the first attempt to provide international recommendations on collecting, publishing, and analysing subjective well-being data. They provide guidance on collecting information on people’s evaluations and experiences of life, as well as on collecting “eudaimonic” measures of psychological well-being. The Guidelines also outline why measures of subjective well-being are relevant for monitoring and policy making, and why national statistical agencies have a critical role to play in enhancing the usefulness of existing measures. They identify the best approaches for measuring, in a reliable and consistent way, the various dimensions of subjective well-being, and provide guidance for reporting on such measures. The Guidelines also include a number of prototype survey modules on subjective well-being that national and international agencies can use in their surveys.
See wikiprogress article for more information: http://wikiprogress.org/articles/initiatives/oecd-guidelines-subjective-well/
