New Measure of UK Wellbeing Planned

In the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron has launched a £2m consultation to develop a new measure of people's social and environmental wellbeing, as opposed to just their wealth.

The new index will be rolled out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from next April, and will examine people's quality of life alongside the economic performance of the country.

To develop the index, ONS plans to consult with people, organisations and businesses across the region, to ask what matters most in people's lives and what factors are important for measuring the national's well being.

Areas under examination will include job satisfaction and economic security, ability to have a say on local and national issues, having good connections with friends and relatives, crime, health and education.

Jil Matheson (pictured) of the ONS says that The National Well-being Project aims to provide a more in-depth picture of how society is doing, than is currently provided by economic indicators such as GDP.

'There is no shortage of numbers that could be used to construct measures of well-being, but they will only be successful if they are widely accepted and understood,' she explained. 'We want to develop measures based on what people tell us matters most.'

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme earlier, Matheson declined to specify what questions would be asked in the planned public consultation and online survey, but said the ONS would be looking for a broad measure based on people's own assessment of their wellbeing.

Len McCluskey, new General Secretary of the Unite union, said the index will just be another attempt by the coalition to 'pull the wool' over peoples' eyes. 'No doubt Cameron will use the index to claim that despite rising unemployment, home repossessions, longer NHS waiting lists and unaffordable education, the people of this country are happier under Tory rule. The reality is a gathering gloom.'

In fact the UK is not the first country to take a stand against such crudely materialist statistical measures: in a response to accusations in 1987 by a journalist from the UK's Financial Times that the pace of his country's development was slow, the King of Bhutan (www.mrweb.com/countries/36bhutan.htm ) said that 'Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product'. He later developed the concept and followed up with research in 2005, when 45% of his people reported being very happy, 52% happy and only 3% said they were not happy.

Web site: www.ons.gov.uk/well-being .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.