Transcript How's Life - 12 Oct 2011 SSF conference

Measuring well-being and
the progress of societies :
the OECD’s perspective
European Economic and Social Council
Brussels, 26 January 2012
Martine Durand
OECD Chief Statistician and Director of Statistics
Contents
1. Background
2. OECD’s Better Life Initiative
3. The policy link
4. Involving the public
1. Background
Background
• Gap between the official statistics and people’s perceptions of
their own conditions
– ‘Felt’ inflation; Pouvoir d’achat; averages vs distribution
• Credibility of official statistics, and ultimately public policies and
the functioning of democratic processes
• Partly, this disconnect reflects over-reliance on GDP as the
measuring rod for living standards and quality of life
• OECD started to work on these issues around 2004
• Discussion about limits of GDP not new but now highlevel political interest
Well-Being and the Crisis
• Crisis has put focus back to economic growth and jobs
• However, Beyond GDP agenda more relevant than ever
if past mistakes are not to be repeated
– What kind of growth and for whom?
– More than just growth: quality of life, democratic voice,
sustainability
• from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street and Los Indignados…
• Remains a high priority for the OECD
5
2.
6
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
How’s
Life?
(report)
OECD
Better Life
InitiativeYour Better
Life Index
(interactive
web tool)
OECD@50: Better policies for better lives
Scope
• Well-being here and now
– Quality of Life
– Material Living Conditions
• Well-being in the future
– Sustainability
• Complementary: OECD work on
Green Growth
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
The OECD well-being framework
An evolutionary process
• Now:
– Indicators under each dimension based on existing data; all
indicators reviewed by National Statistical Offices
– But not all indicators satisfy all quality criteria equally well and
many gaps remain How’s Life? identifies a large unfinished
statistical agenda for the future
• 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 Highlights
from How’s Life?
No country performs best in all dimensions
Number of green lights out of 22 headline indicators
Average country performance by dimension
60%
Number of red lights out of 22 headline indicators
Source : OECD calculations
Strengths and weaknesses differ among countries
Subjective wellbeing
United States
Income and
wealth
10
France
Jobs and earnings
8
6
Personal security
Housing
4
2
0
Environmental
quality
Work and life
balance
Civic engagement
and governance
Social connections
Health status
Education and
skills
Source : OECD calculations
Well-being is both objective and subjective
For every person assaulted there are ten who feel unsafe
90
80
self-reported victimisation
70
feelings of insecurity
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Percentage of the population, 2010
Source : UNODC and Gallup World Poll
Environmental sustainability
Demand-based CO2 emissions grew faster than productionbased emissions in the OECD area
Production
Demand
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
OECD
Other major economies
Production-based and demand-based CO2 emissions,
Rate of change per year, 1995-2005
Source : OECD, Towards Green Growth: Monitoring Progress – OECD Indicators
Inequality…a cross-cutting issue in
How’s Life?
A few examples
Inequalities in well-being : income
Large income inequalities in many OECD countries…
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
Gini coefficient, 2010
Inequalities in well-being: income
… which have increased in a number of them
6
4
2
0
-2
-4
-6
-8
-10
Point changes in Gini coefficient, from mid-1990s to late-2000s
Inequalities in well-being: health
Low-income people report lower health status
100
Highest income quintile
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Lowest income quintile
Inequalities in well-being: social
connections
Lower-educated and lower-income people also have…
… weaker social ties…
… and lower trust in others
95
40
35
90
30
85
25
80
20
15
75
10
70
5
0
65
Primary Secondary Tertiary
Education
1
2
3
4
Incomequintile
Percentage of people reporting that they have someone
to count on in times of need, 2010
5
Axis Title
Primary Secondary Tertiary
Education
1
2
4
3
Income quintile
Percentage of people reporting trusting others, 2010
5
Axis Title
Inequalities in well-being: jobs
Long-term unemployment much higher among youth
25-54
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Long-term unemployment rate, 2010
15-24
3. The policy link
The policy link
• Major challenge: outcome perspective makes it more
difficult to identify most effective policies
– need multi-dimensional, integrated approach that takes into account
interdependencies and trade-offs -> difficult and ambitious endeavour
• Some country experience emerging
– Well-being policy frameworks in Australian Treasury; New-Zealand
Treasury
– United Kingdom: Measuring National Well-Being follow-up; Green
book on valuing social impacts…
• Key role of elected assemblies and civil society
4. Involving the public
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 ?
11.00%
10.50%
10.00%
Female
37%
Male
63%
9.50%
9.00%
All
Male
Female
8.50%
8.00%
7.50%
What’s next?
• Extending the well-being agenda to developing countries as
part of the new OECD Development Strategy
• Actively promoting effective use of new measures for policymaking: developing well-being policy frameworks at regional,
national and international level
• Continued engagement with civil society 
– 4th OECD World Forum in India in October 2012
Thank you
http://www.oecdbetterlifeinitiative.org/
http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/
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