HOW’S LIFE? Measuring Well-Being

The OECD Better Life Initiative

Building on almost 10

years of OECD work

under the Global Project

Now moving to measuring

what matters most in

PEOPLE’s life

OECD@50: Better policies for better lives

OECD Better Life Initiative

How’s Life? (report)

Your Better Life Index (interactive web tool)

Focus

• Households and people, not just GDP

• Outcomes, not inputs or outputs

• Assessing inequalities alongside averages

• Including both objective and subjective aspects of

well-being

Scope

Well-being here and now

– Quality of Life

– Material Living Conditions

Well-being in the future

– Sustainability

The framework

Measurement approach

Relevance of indicators

- face-validity

- easily understood, unambiguous interpretation

- amenable to policy changes

- possibility of disaggregation by population groups

Quality of supporting data

- official and well-established sources; non-official data used as place-holders

in a few cases

- comparable/standardized definitions

- maximum country-coverage

- recurrent data collection

Significant documentation and testing

No Composite Index

An evolutionary process

• Now:

– Evidence based on existing data; all indicators reviewed by

National Statistical Offices

– But not all indicators satisfy all quality criteria equally well

How’s Life? identifies the statistical agenda ahead

• In future: – New and improved indicators as results from OECD work,

research and other initiatives become available

– More than just environmental sustainability

(economic, human and social)

Selected findings from How’s

Life?

No country performs best in all dimensions

Average country performance by dimension

Num

ber

of

gre

en l

ights

out

of

22

hea

dli

ne

ind

icat

ors

Number of red lights out of 22 headline indicators

60%

Source : OECD calculations

Strengths and weaknesses differ among

countries

0

2

4

6

8

10

Income and wealth

Jobs and earnings

Housing

Work and life balance

Health status

Education and skills

Social connections

Civic engagement and governance

Environmental quality

Personal security

Subjective well-being

United States

France

Source : OECD calculations

Inequalities in well-being : income

Large income inequalities in many OECD countries…

0.00

0.10

0.20

0.30

0.40

0.50

0.60

Gini coefficient, 2008 or latest year available

Source : OECD Income distribution and poverty database

Inequalities in well-being: income

Point changes in Gini coefficient, from mid-1980s to late-2000s

… which have increased in many of them

Source : OECD Income distribution and poverty database

-0.04

-0.03

-0.02

-0.01

0.00

0.01

0.02

0.03

0.04

0.05

0.06

0.07

Inequalities in well-being: health

Low-income people report lower health status

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Highest income quintile

Lowest income quintile

Source : OECD Health Data; EU-SILC

Inequalities in well-being: social

connections

… weaker social ties…

… and lower trust in others

Percentage of people reporting that they have someone

to count on in times of need, 2010

Percentage of people reporting trusting others, 2010

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Primary Secondary Tertiary 1 2 3 4 5Axis Title

Education Incomequintile

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

Primary Secondary Tertiary 1 2 3 4 5Axis Title

EducationIncomequintile

Lower-educated and lower-income people also have…

Source : Gallup World Poll

Inequalities in well-being: jobs

Long-term unemployment much higher among youth

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

25-54 15-24

Long-term unemployment rate, 2010

Source : OECD Labour force statistics database

Inequalities in well-being:

work-life balance Satisfaction with work-life balance is lower for working women and

goes down with the number of children

Percentage of workers satisfied with their work-life balance in Europe, 2007

28.5

24.8 24.723.3

27.3

23.4

2120.2

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

No child 1 child 2 children 3 or more children

Male Female

Source : Second European Quality of Life Survey

Other people matter for one’s subjective

well-being Life satisfaction goes up with social ties

Avera

ge L

ife S

atis

fact

ion

2

3

4

5

6

7

8With friends to count on

Without friends to count on

Source : Gallup World Poll

Environmental sustainability

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

OECD Other major economies

Production Demand

Production-based and demand-based CO2 emissions,

Rate of change per year, 1995-2005

Demand-based CO2 emissions grew faster than production-

based emissions in the OECD area

Source : OECD, Towards Green Growth: Monitoring Progress – OECD Indicators

Involving the public

• Engaging with civil society has been one of the

goals of the OECD-hosted Global Project

• How’s Life? is accompanied by interactive web

tool (Your Better Life Index) aimed at

involving the public

Your Better Life Index

What matters most to people ?

7.50%

8.00%

8.50%

9.00%

9.50%

10.00%

10.50%

11.00%

All

Male

Female

Male 63%

Female 37%

Source : OECD calculations

Age makes a difference

Health, Governance and Environment become

more important with age

7.5%

8.0%

8.5%

9.0%

9.5%

10.0%

10.5%

11.0%

15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 >65

Housing

Income

Jobs

Community

Education

Environment

Governance

Health

Life satisfaction

Safety

Work and Life balance

While income, jobs and work-life balance

become less important

7.5%

8.0%

8.5%

9.0%

9.5%

10.0%

10.5%

11.0%

15-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 >65

Housing

Income

Jobs

Community

Education

Environment

Governance

Health

Life satisfaction

Safety

Work and Life balance

Users

weig

hts

Use

rs w

eig

hts

Source : OECD calculations

What’s next (1)

OECD committed to deliver on How’s Life?

measurement agenda

Developing guidelines on subjective well-being

Integrating inequalities in National Accounts

Developing standards for measuring household wealth and joint

distribution of income, consumption and wealth

Measures of household non-market production

Green Growth Indicators; Human and social capital

In collaboration with National Statistical Offices and

other international organisations

What’s next (2)

• Extending the well-being agenda to developing

countries as part of the new OECD Development

Strategy

• Promoting effective use of new measures for

policy-making

• Continued engagement with civil society 4th

OECD World Forum in India in October 2012

Thank you

Your Better Life Index

http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/

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