Statistics Austria has produced the How’s Austria? report annually since 2012, presenting indicators on material wealth, quality of life and the environment, to complement GDP measurement.
How’s Austria?
Abstract
Context
How’s Austria? was launched by Statistics Austria in 2012. To select its indicators, Statistics Austria followed the recommendations of the 2009 report of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress (also known as the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi report) and Eurostat’s Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-Being and Sustainable Development. It also consulted national experts, research institutions, interest groups, and federal ministries. A yearly report has been published since 2013 to report on these indicators. This project contributes to Austria’s efforts to achieve economic, ecological and social sustainability.
Description and key outcomes
The 30 key indicators were selected to complement GDP and cover three areas: material wealth, quality of life, and the environment. Experts evaluate Austria’s performance in each indicator based on a 5-point system, taking into account the short-term (over the last 3 years) and the long-term (over at least ten years). Attention is also paid to Austria’s performance in comparison to other EU countries.
Policy relevance
How’s Austria? provides a comprehensive overview of well-being in Austria to support strong empirical research and foster an evidence-driven approach to decision-making.
Further information
Eurostat and Insee, Sponsorship Group on Measuring Progress, Well-being and Sustainable Development, (2011), Report of the Task Force: Multidimensional measurement of the quality of life, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/8131721/8131772/TF3-Final-report-Quality-of-Life.pdf
Statistics Austria (2021), Wie geht´s Österreich? 2021 [How’s Austria? 2021], https://www.statistik.at/services/tools/services/publikationen/detail/1086#:~:text=Mit%20%E2%80%9EWie%20geht's%20%C3%96sterreich%3F,Statistik%20Austria%20mit%20der%20Wissenschaft
Statistics Austria (2020), Wie geht’s Österreich? 2020 [How’s Austria? 2020], https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/publications/Wie_geht__s_OEsterreich__2020.pdf
Statistics Austria (2019), Wie geht’s Österreich? 2019 [How’s Austria? 2019], https://www.statistik.at/services/tools/services/publikationen/detail/1105
Stiglitz, J., Sen, A., and Fitoussi, J.P. (2009), Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/8131721/8131772/Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi-Commission-report.pdf
UNECE, Case study for Road Map on Statistics for SDGs 2.0 Austria: The project “How’s Austria?”, https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2021-12/CS%20AT%20The%20project%20How%27s%20Austria.pdf
OECD resources
OECD, How’s Life in your country? Country notes, Austria, https://www.oecd.org/wise/measuring-well-being-and-progress.htm#country-notes
