The feasibility study for a measuring system for well-being in Europe is finished

Increasing the quality of life and well-being of the citizens is becoming more and more prominent on the political-economic agenda - and thereby adds to the typical "welfare" indicators, such as GNP with a more qualitative - "human" viewpoint. In order to better support the policymakers at various levels in this evolution, IDEA Consult carried out practical research for Eurostat into the possibilities of developing a European indicator(set) for well-being.

IDEA distinguished the following main tasks for the: 1) re-assessing the existing examples of indicators for well-being and sustainable development, 2) researching the most promising indicators at EU level, and 3) recommending the most suitable approaches for a EU indicator(set) for well-being. In screening the interesting indicators, we strongly emphasised their quality in terms of content, communicative value, data availability, and accuracy.

We have in the project clearly opted for a single, but composite, outcome variable, which we would call "satisfaction adjusted life expectancy" (SALY). This is based on overall life satisfaction and life expectancy at birth, and combines objective and subjective assessments of well-being. With this we have implicitly decided that true well-being is the outcome of the SALY.

Furthermore, a methodology was developed to actually gather the necessary data and information to quantify the final indicator for well-being, and we put this into practice. This led to concrete recommendations for further development, fine-tuning and communication of the most feasible indicator(s).