National Accounts of Well-being

It has long been recognised that GDP – the standard measure of national income, relied on by politicians and commentators to assess the progress of nations – fails as a meaningful measure of social progress. It values only crude increases in income and takes no account of how fairly resources are distributed or the social and environmental damage caused by growth. A growing range of academics, commentators and politicians have been calling for new measures of progress. Now, nef has responded by producing the first ever National Accounts of Well-being.

National Accounts of Well-being: bringing real wealth onto the balance sheet is the most comprehensive international analysis of well-being ever produced. It surveys 22 European countries, measuring both personal and social well-being. Personal well-being describes people’s experiences of their positive and negative emotions, satisfaction, vitality, resilience, self-esteem and sense of purpose and meaning. Social well-being is made up of two main components: supportive relationships, and trust and belonging both of which are critical elements of overall well-being.

According to nef's research, Britain fares poorly on both measures, coming only 13th place when social and personal well-being are combined into a single score. The results also reveal that people in the UK aged 16-24 report the lowest level of trust and belonging – a key element of social well-being – anywhere in Europe, perhaps due to the rise of a highly individualistic culture in the UK.

As we enter a period of increased economic, social and environmental uncertainty, the consequences of the obsession with growth have become clear: a financial system increasingly disconnected from the real economy, unsustainable levels of debt and the strain placed on the planet by our high-consuming lifestyles. nef’s National Accounts of Well-being offer a timely and effective way to refocus our attention on the things that really matter.