OECD Work on Measuring Well-Being and Progress Martine Durand OECD Chief Statistician and Director of Statistics e-Frame European Conference Paris, 26 June 2012

 Started 10 years ago : 3 World Fora, Global Project  Last year: launch of the OECD Better Life Initiative  Main goal: to build a GPS of societal progress, i.e. an information system for policy making that:  Goes beyond the market  Goes beyond the average  Goes beyond “here and now” The OECD work on measuring well-being and progress 2

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 Better policies for better lives OECD Better Life Initiative How’s Life? (report) Your Better Life Index (interactive web tool)

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

Measurement approach  Relevance of indicators - face-validity -easily understood, unambiguous interpretation -amenable to policy changes -possibility of disaggregation by population groups  Quality of supporting data -official and well-established sources; non-official data used as place-holders in a few cases -comparable/standardized definitions -maximum country-coverage -recurrent data collection  No Composite Index

An evolutionary process Now: –Evidence based on existing data; all indicators reviewed by National Statistical Offices –But not all indicators satisfy all quality criteria equally well  How’s Life? identifies the statistical agenda ahead In future: –New and improved indicators as results from OECD work, research and other initiatives become available –More on environmental and other sustainability aspects (economic, human and social)

Selected findings from How’s Life?

No country performs best in all dimensions of How’s Life? Number of green lights out of 22 headline indicators Number of red lights out of 22 headline indicators 60% Source : OECD calculations

Strengths and weaknesses differ among countries Source : OECD calculations

Inequalities in well-being : income High income inequalities in many OECD countries … Gini coefficient, 2008 or latest year available … that have often increased Point differences in Gini coefficient from mid-1980 to mid-2000

Inequalities in well-being: social connections … weaker social ties… … and lower trust in others Percentage of people reporting that they have someone to count on in times of need, 2010 Percentage of people reporting trusting others, 2010 Lower-educated and lower-income people also have… Source : Gallup World Poll

Environmental Sustainability  The OECD Green Growth Strategy delivered to OECD Ministers in 2011  Drawing upon long-standing experience with: –Fact-based policy analysis and evaluation –Country reviews  Green growth is policy-oriented, pragmatic way of approaching environmental sustainability  Key element: set of Green Growth Indicators –First release in 2011 –New release in

Environmental sustainability Production-based and demand-based CO2 emissions, Rate of change per year, Demand-based CO2 emissions grew faster than production-based emissions in the OECD area Source : OECD, Towards Green Growth: Monitoring Progress – OECD Indicators OECDOther major economies ProductionDemand

Indicator framework applied at national level Green growth indicator publications The Czech Republic Korea The Netherlands Mexico Work underway in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru, Kyrgyzstan

Involving the public Engaging with civil society has been one of the goals of the OECD 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 ? Source : OECD calculations

What’s next: measurement (1)  OECD committed to deliver on How’s Life? measurement agenda, in close collaboration with National Statistical Offices, Eurostat and other initiatives (e.g. e-Frame)  Material conditions and Quality of Life  International Guidelines on Subjective Well-being  Integrating inequalities in National Accounts  Developing standards for measuring household wealth and joint distribution of income, consumption and wealth  TUS and measures of household non-market production  Indicators of Health Outcomes and Inequalities  Civic engagement and institutions  Regional indicators of well-being  Gender

What’s next : measurement (2)  Environmental sustainability –SEEA: implementation (in cooperation with Eurostat and other international organisations) –Development of headline indicators –Research: GG Knowledge Platform (GGGI, WB, UNEP, OECD)  Human and Social Capital –Monetary estimates of human capital –groundwork for developing statistical guidelines on social capital (with DG EMPL) in the future

From developed to developing countries  Extending the well-being and progress agenda to developing countries –Three Regional Conferences (Latin America, Asia Pacific, Africa) –From Rio+20 towards post 2015 Agenda  4th OECD World Forum in New Delhi, October 2012 –Measuring Well-Being for Development and Policy Making –Contributions from regional conferences, including European Conference

From measurement to policy 22  Taking a multi-dimensional approach to well-being can make a difference – strategic decisions about which aspects of people’s well-being to focus on, and who should be main target group – decisions about how to improve well-being most efficiently in each field (e.g. by identifying spill-overs and unintended effects) – promoting whole-of-government approach  Several examples at national and regional levels –Buthan; UK; Australia; New-Zealand; Reform of EU Cohesion Policies  At OECD –Involving policy groups –Developing new analytical framework for multi-dimensional country reviews )

Thank you! oecdbetterlifeinitiative.org oecdbetterlifeindex.org