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Wellbeing in Europe Laura Cziszter and Boglárka Fedorkó Topics to be presented: – Why is it important to measure wellbeing? – Wellbeing in Europe – comparative analysis – Links between education and wellbeing htht Why do politicians need indicators? – To understand local needs and make informed policy decisions – To measure outcomes of the policy decisions – To track progress and impact of the policy decisions htht Limitations of GDP as an indicator – Since 1930s, GDP has become a standard benchmark used by policy makers throughout the world and is widely used in public debates – GDP has also come to be regarded as a proxy indicator for overall societal development and progress in general – GDP measures economic growth, however, it does not reflect a range of important societal factors, such as environmental sustainability, social inclusion – The focus on economic growth has its limitations: longer working hours, rising levels of indebtedness, negative impact on our environment The Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and … the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl… Yet [it] does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play… the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages… it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.’ Robert F. Kennedy htht International recognition of the need for an indicator that measures what really matters to people – UNDP has developed a Human Development Index (HDI) to benchmark countries based on combined measurement of GDP, health and education – The World Bank with its calculation of genuine savings has pioneered the inclusion of social and environmental aspects when assessing the wealth of nations – The OECD is running the Global Project on Measuring the Progress of Societies fostering the use of novel indicators in a participatory way – Several NGOs measure the "ecological footprint“ – Numerous think tanks carry out research on people’s wellbeing and quality of life htht What is the EU doing in this matter? • • • • 2007: Beyond GDP Conference: strong support from European policy-makers, economic, social and environmental experts and civil society for developing indicators that complement GDP 2008 Eurobarometer poll showed that more than two thirds of EU citizens feel that social, environmental and economic indicators should be used equally to evaluate progress 2009 Council communication acknowledged the growing consensus that GDP should be complemented with other top-level indicators to provide a more accurate view of progress in the social, economic and environmental spheres 2010 European Statistics Agency (Eurostat) carried out Eurostat feasibility study on well-being indicators working together with think-tank New Economics Foundation (NEF) htht One example of wellbeing-model What makes someone feel good as an individual? In your view, what are the main elements of someone’s personal well-being? htht Model proposed by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) TWO DIMENSIONS: Personal wellbeing: experiences of their positive and negative emotions, satisfaction, vitality, resilience and self-esteem and sense of positive functioning in the world Social wellbeing: supportive relationships and sense of trust and belonging with others htht Personal Wellbeing Emotional wellbeing Positive feelings Satisfying life Absence of negative feelings Vitality Resilience and self-esteem Selfesteem Optimism Positive functioning Resilience Competence Autonomy Engagement Meaning and purpose htht Social Well-being Supportive relationships Trust and belonging htht What are the areas where political decisions, or community-level actions can have an impact? htht Type of questions (European Social Survey, 22 European countries) Emotional well-being (positive feelings): Taking all things together, how happy would you say you are? Satisfying life On the whole my life is close to how I would like it to be (agree – disagree) Vitality How much of the time during the past week have you felt tired? Supportive relationships How much of the time spent with your immediate family is enjoyable? Trust and belonging To what extent do you feel that people in your local area help one another? Check out your own personal wellbeing here: http://www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org/engage/survey/view/1 What is your guess? Where is the highest level of overall wellbeing? Lowest level? htht Some interesting cross-country results in Europe Countries with high levels of personal well-being do not necessarily have high levels of social well-being, and vice versa Ex. Denmark and Ukraine- very stable on both elements Central, Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal: higher scores for social than for personal wellbeing Germany, Belgium: higher scores for personal than for social wellbeing Comparing Well-being Profiles helps to uncover differences in countries which have similar GSP per capita Ex. Finland and France have very similar levels of GDP per capita, but France ranks substantially below Finland on both personal and social well-being www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org/explore/countries/hu Well-being profiles reveal remarkable variation across European nations Profile of Estonia and Hungary www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org/explore/countries/hu Social wellbeing components: marked contrast in the case of Hungary htht Some interesting cross-country results in Europe Clear differences emerged in the character of people’s well-being between population groups Ex. In the UK, the Well-being Profiles of the youngest and oldest age groups in the UK reveal some striking differences in their well-being composition and levels with particular disparity for the trust and belonging component, with a very low score for the youngest age group and a high score for the oldest. http://www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org/explore/countries/gb# htht Some interesting results from a case study on young people’s wellbeing in Nottingham, UK (NEF) I. – While GDP has nearly doubled in the last 30 years, quality of life and social progress had remained stagnant – The research, done in partnership with Nottingham City Council: first wellbeing survey of school students – Sample: over 1,000 youngsters of the 7-19 age group – Examines two dimensions of well-being in: life satisfaction and personal development. • life satisfaction • personal development: to being curious, and engaging in challenging and absorbing activities htht Some interesting results from a case study on young people’s wellbeing in Nottingham, UK (NEF) II. Key findings: • 9 % of the youngsters: very low’ life satisfaction and can be considered at very high risk of depression • Well-being falls substantially as children get older • 65% of primary school children have high levels of wellbeing, this number drops to 27% in the case of secondary school children • Secondary school children seem to become bored, stop learning and no longer enjoy the activities available at school. • The academically-top-performing primary school has significantly lower well-being than the other primary schools surveyed. • those children who listed sports as their favourite activity were significantly more likely to have higher levels of well-being than any other group htht To sum up: There is an international and EU-wide opening at policy level on gaining better insight on what matters to people, and what makes their life better. The wellbeing indicators that are being developed will help politicians make better policy choices. Future policy decisions and their impacts will be shaped by wellbeing indicators. htht What role for civil society? Civil society is the best placed to provide information on the needs of their communities and what would make the citizens life better. Using this knowledge, civil society could exert political pressure and stimulate debate about the role of well-being measurement. Civil society could achieve greater mobilisation of the public on this issue, by communicating about it in a way which highlights its relevance to people’s day-to-day life, and gain people’s opinion about what really matters to them. htht Thank you for your attention! .Bibliography: • • • GDP and beyond: Measuring progress in a changing world, Communication from the Commission to the Councail and the European Parliament http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433:FIN:EN:PDF National Accounts of Wellbeing; New Economics Foundation http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/national-accounts-well-being The Power and Potential of Well-Being Indicators, Measuring young people's well-being in Nottingham; New Economics Foundation http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/power-and-potential-well-being-indicators