The Office for National Statistics’ decade-long work on well-being is guided by the quarterly UK Measures of National Well-being, last reviewed in 2022. The 60 measures seek to assess individual, community-level and national well-being across 10 domains relevant to the United Kingdom.
UK Measures of National Well-being
Abstract
Context
The United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (ONS) introduced the Measuring National Well-being programme in 2010, with the launch of a first set of measures in 2011. The development of this initial set involved a variety of stakeholder engagements, such as national debates, public feedback, research and a Technical Advisory Group of experts. A revised framework, the UK Measures of National Well-being, was launched in July 2023 by the ONS.
Description and key outcomes
The UK Measures of National Well-being comprise 60 measures of well-being across 10 domains: personal well-being; our relationships; health; what we do (paid and unpaid work, and leisure activities); where we live (the quality of the local area and community); personal finance; education and skills; economy; governance; and environment. This Framework combines objective measures, such as unemployment and inflation, with subjective indicators, such as life satisfaction, perceived happiness and hope for the future.
The Measures are designed to capture well-being at three different levels: individual, community and national. They also track well-being performance with a long-term perspective – the sustainability of current trends is measured according to stocks of four capital: human, social, economic and natural.
The Measures are published quarterly and include breakdowns by age, sex, country and region. The latest available data are updated on the UK Measures of National Well-being Dashboard website.
Policy relevance
The objective of the UK Measures of National Well-being is to understand and monitor well-being through a trusted set of country-level statistics. The Framework and accompanying indicators are also used to help policy makers understand how their decisions may affect people’s quality of life. For example, the Airports
Commission performed a quality of life assessment study in 2015 which utilised all domains to assess the well-being impact of airport expansion. The Framework and Measures (with a particular focus on personal well-being measures) are being integrated across UK policy decision-making through the support of the UK What Works Centre for Well-being (the UK’s independent body for well-being evidence, policy and practice), and methodological resources such as the UK Treasury’s Green Book supplementary guidance on well-being appraisal and evaluation.
Further information
HM Treasury (2021), Green Book Supplementary Guidance: Wellbeing, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/green-book-supplementary-guidance-wellbeing#:~:text=It%20includes%20an%20overview%20of,included%20in%20cost%20benefit%20analysis
United Kingdom Airports Commission (2015), Airports Commission Final Report: Quality of Life and Community,
United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (2023), Measures of National Well-being Dashboard: Quality of Life in the UK, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/articles/ukmeasuresofnationalwellbeing/dashboard
United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (2023), UK Measures of National Well-being Dataset, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/datasets/ukmeasuresofnationalwellbeing
United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (2023), UK Measures of National Well-being: User Guide, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/methodologies/ukmeasuresofnationalwellbeinguserguide
United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (2023), UK Measures of National Well-being, current and upcoming work: July 2023, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/articles/ukmeasuresofnationalwellbeingcurrentandupcomingwork/july2023
United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (2023), Review of the UK Measures of National Well-being, October 2022 to March 2023, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/articles/reviewoftheukmeasuresofnationalwellbeingoctober2022tomarch2023/2023-07-05
United Kingdom Office for National Statistics (2011), Measuring What Matters: National Statistician’s Reflections on the National Debate on Measuring Well-being, https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/publications/measuring-what-matters--national-statistician-s-reflections-on-the-national-debate-on-measuring-national-well-being.pdf
United Kingdom Government (2013), National Wellbeing: Reports and publications relating to the National Wellbeing Programme launched by the Prime Minister in 2010, https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-wellbeing
United Kingdom What Works Centre for Wellbeing, website, https://whatworkswellbeing.org/ (accessed 27 October 2023)
OECD Resources
OECD, How’s Life in your country? Country notes, United Kingdom, https://www.oecd.org/wise/measuring-well-being-and-progress.htm#country-notes
OECD (2023), Economic Policy Making to Pursue Economic Welfare: OECD Report for the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, May 2023, Japan, OECD, Paris. https://www.oecd.org/economy/G7_Beyond_GDP_Economic_policy_making_to_pursue_economic_welfare_2023.pdf
