How's Life? 2015

OECD

• Publisher: OECD
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN: 9789264255296
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Chapter 1. Well-being today and tomorrow: An overview1

This chapter draws together the big picture on well-being, outlining the OECD framework for measuring well-being, and including an overview of the detailed findings in chapters 2 and 3. An analysis of well-being strengths and weaknesses finds that every OECD country has room for improvement, and countries with similar levels of GDP per capita can have very different well-being profiles. There can also be large gaps in well-being within countries, for example between younger and older people, between men and women, and between people with different levels of education. Changes in well-being since 2009 suggest a mixed picture, with progress in some countries and on some indicators, but continuing challenges in others. Recent trends relating to natural, human, social and economic capital highlight resources and risks for future well-being. Data from www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org show which dimensions of well-being people prioritise when building their own Better Life Index. Finally, some of the latest advances in the measurement and use of well-being data are described.

Introduction

The OECD aims to promote “better policies for better lives”. Doing this requires a good understanding of what it means to have a better life; an assessment of people’s well-being today along with a sense of what improvements should be prioritised for the future. The statistics in this report provide a snapshot of people’s lives in OECD countries and selected partners (Brazil and the Russian Federation). They include objective information about the conditions in which people live, and the opportunities they have in life, as well as data that reflect how people feel about different aspects of their lives. By building a broad picture of people’s lives in different countries, this report aims to promote a deeper and more engaged discussion about the changes that are needed in order to make those lives better, including priorities for public policies.

While there is no single recipe for well-being, there is an increasing consensus around a common list of useful ingredients. The OECD framework for measuring individual well-being includes eleven different dimensions that are important for well-being today, grouped under the two broad headings: material conditions (income and wealth, jobs and earnings, housing), and quality of life (health status, work-life balance, education and skills, social connections, civic engagement and governance, environmental quality, personal security, and subjective well-being) (Figure 1.1). “Going beyond the average” is an important feature of the framework: it is important to look not just at whether life is getting better overall, but also for whom. This includes differences between men and women, between older and younger people, between high and low income groups, and between people with differing levels of education.

Figure 1.1. The OECD framework for measuring well-being

Source: OECD (2011), How’s Life?: Measuring Well-Being, OECD Publishing, Paris, http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264121164-en.

Yet the framework also goes beyond current well-being by considering the stocks of resources (or “capital”) that can be measured today and that play a key role in shaping well-being outcomes over time, including natural capital, human capital, economic capital and social capital.

The goal of this chapter is to draw together the big picture on well-being, summarising findings in chapters 2 and 3, which offer a more detailed account of well-being outcomes today (chapter 2) and the resources that can help to support well-being over time (chapter 3). The first section provides a snapshot of life in the OECD, and then a brief analysis of well-being strengths and weaknesses among OECD countries. Next, disparities in well-being between different groups of the population are considered, followed by a section that describes changes in well-being over time. This chapter also examines and summarises recent trends in the evolution of key capital stocks that will be important for maintaining well-being over time. Some data on user responses from the OECD’s Better Life Index web-tool (www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org) are then described, offering some insights into what people say matters the most for their well-being. The final section describes some of the latest developments in the measurement and use of well-being data.

Box 1.1. The OECD approach to measuring well-being

The OECD framework for measuring well-being was first introduced in How’s Life? 2011. It builds on a variety of national and international initiatives for measuring the progress of societies using a broad set of metrics, as well as on the recommendations of the Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi Report (2009) and the input provided by the National Statistical Offices (NSOs) represented in the OECD Committee on Statistics and Statistical Policy. Conceptually, the framework reflects elements of the capabilities approach (Sen, 1985; Alkire and Sarwar, 2009; Anand, Durand and Heckman, 2011), with many dimensions addressing the factors that can expand people’s choices and opportunities to live the lives that they value – including health, education, and income (see OECD, 2013a).

The approach to measuring current well-being has several important features:

• It puts people (individuals and households) at the centre of the assessment, focusing on their life circumstances, and their experiences of well-being.
• It focuses on well-being outcomes – aspects of life that are directly and intrinsically important to people – rather than the inputs and outputs that might be used to deliver those outcomes. For example, in the education dimension, measures focus on the skills and competencies achieved, rather than on the money spent on schools or the number of teachers trained.
• It includes outcomes that are both objective (i.e. observable by a third party) and intrinsically subjective (i.e. where only the person concerned can report on their inner feelings and states), recognising that objective evidence about people’s life circumstances can be usefully complemented by information about...

Table of contents

• Title page
• Legal and rights
• Foreword
• Editorial: Better lives, today and tomorrow
• Reader’s guide
• Executive summary
• Chapter 1. Well-being today and tomorrow: An overview
• Chapter 2. How’s life? in figures
• Chapter 3. Resources for future well-being
• Chapter 4. How’s life for children?
• Chapter 5. The value of giving: Volunteering and well-being
• Chapter 6. Going local: Measuring well-being in regions
• About the OECD