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Sustainable Development The Government's approach - delivering UK sustainable development together |
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Creating sustainable communities and a fairer world |
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68. WellbeingThe 2005 Sustainable Development Strategy set out a commitment for Government to explore the concept of wellbeing. Wellbeing is a broad concept with many varying definitions. Here, it is understood to be a positive physical, social and mental state; it is not just the absence of pain, discomfort and incapacity. It requires that basic needs are met, that individuals have a sense of purpose, that they feel able to achieve important personal goals and participate in society. It is enhanced by conditions that include supportive personal relationships, strong and inclusive communities, good health, financial and personal security, rewarding employment, and a healthy and attractive environment. Wellbeing cannot be fully measured by any single indicator. There are numerous factors that influence an individual’s wellbeing. It is only possible to identify and measure some of them. Wellbeing is already integral to sustainable development and so there are a number of existing indicators, presented earlier in this booklet, that have been identified as being particularly relevant to understanding wellbeing. These existing indicators have been selected based on evidence for an influence on wellbeing, and wherever possible, are those that indicate the number and / or types of people affected rather than general conditions such as air quality. In some cases supplementary measures have been added to support the relevant existing sustainable development indicator. List of wellbeing measures Those measures that are numbered are existing sustainable development indicators, along with any related supplementary wellbeing measures. 39. Fear of crime Physical activity Life satisfaction An important aspect not covered by existing indicators is life satisfaction. Survey questions about overall life satisfaction and satisfaction with different aspects of life resonate well as a means of measuring wellbeing. In some ways they are an overall 'outcome' measure reflecting economic wellbeing, health, education, access to services etc. Such measures like these are widely used around the world. It is acknowledged that they have some limitations. In particular the measures are numerically constrained (typically as a score between 0 and 10) so that comparisons over longer periods of time and between countries are difficult. However, independent research concluded that life satisfaction measures should provide reliable information about wellbeing in a policy context. New survey questions were developed and results were published for the first time in 2007. Some of these questions are now being included in other major government surveys, which will not only provide updates on life satisfaction but enable life satisfaction measures to be investigated alongside other aspects of life. For the overall life satisfaction measure, provisional results from the DH healthy foundations life-stage segmentation research (to be completed in 2008), have been used to provide an update for 2008 and are published for the first time. Where results on aspects of life are reported, it should be noted that in isolation the survey results presented should not be regarded as the primary source of data on some of the issues covered. Other data sources may have been specifically designed to gather information on particular aspects of life. The purpose of the survey questions was to be able to bring these aspects together within the overall context of life satisfaction. For various reasons, relating to sample size, context, questionnaire design etc. results from the survey questions for a given factor may in some cases differ from the results of other surveys designed specifically to explore that factor. Wellbeing is also a UK Framework indicator, shared by the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Measures presented here predominantly relate only to England. The UK Government and Devolved Administrations will continue to work together to integrate wellbeing measures into the UK Framework Indicators. Child wellbeing Following the first wellbeing measures published in 2007, a commitment was made to develop measures of child wellbeing. Using questions from the 2007 “Tell Us” survey of over 100,000 children in school years 6, 8 and 10, run by the Office for Standards in Eductation (Ofsted), measures that are broadly equivalent to selected wellbeing measures for adults are included for the first time in this year’s release. Positive mental health Some results from work done by the National Health Service in Scotland on positive mental health are included for the first time, as an initial stage in developing agreed measures of positive mental health.
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Sustainable Development Indicators in Your Pocket Useful links |
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Updated: 31 July 2008 |
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