How’s Life? 2013: Measuring Well-being

Author (Corporate)
Publisher
Publication Date 2013
ISBN 978-92-64-20074-6
Content Type

Every person aspires to a good life. But what does 'a good or a better life' mean? The second edition of How’s Life? provides an update on the most important aspects that shape people’s lives and well-being: income, jobs, housing, health, work-life balance, education, social connections, civic engagement and governance, environment, personal security and subjective well-being. It paints a comprehensive picture of well-being in OECD countries and other major economies, by looking at people’s material living conditions and quality of life across the population. Through a wide range of comparable well-being indicators, the report shows that countries perform differently in the various dimensions of well-being. For instance, low-income countries in the OECD area tend to do very well in subjective well-being and work-life balance, while their level of material well-being is much lower than that of other OECD countries. The report responds to the needs of citizens for better information on well-being and the needs of policy makers to give a more accurate picture of societal progress.

In addition, the report contains in-depth studies of four key cross-cutting issues in well-being that are particularly relevant. First, this report analyses how well-being has changed during the global economic and financial crisis. Even though some effects of the crisis may become visible only in the long-term, the report finds that the Great Recession has large implications for both economic and non-economic well-being of households. Secondly, the report looks at gender differences in well-being, showing that the traditional gender gap in favour of men has reduced but has not disappeared. It also finds that women and men do well in different areas of well-being and that they are increasingly sharing tasks and roles. Third, it looks at the quality of employment and well-being in the workplace. The report presents evidence on the main factors that drive people’s commitment at work and are key to strengthening their capacity to cope with demanding jobs. Finally, the last chapter of the report studies the links between current and future well-being. It looks at ways to define and measure sustainability of wellbeing over time.

How’s Life? is part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, launched by the Organization on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary in 2011. The OECD Better Life Initiative aims to promote 'Better Policies for Better Lives', in line with the OECD’s overarching mission. One of the other pillars of the OECD Better Life Initiative is the Better Life Index (www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org), an interactive composite index of well-being that aims at involving citizens in the debate on societal progress.

Contents:
Editorial: Focusing on people 11

Reader’s guide 14

Executive summary 15

Chapter 1. The OECD Better Life Initiative: Concepts and indicators 17
- The OECD Better Life Initiative and beyond 18
- A framework for measuring well-being 21
- Selecting indicators 24
- Assessing well-being through a dashboard of indicators 24
- The How’s Life? Statistical agenda: Progress since 2011 26
- Conclusions 30
- References 31
- Annex 1.A1. Assessing countries’ relative strengths and weaknesses in overall well-being performance 33

Chapter 2. How’s Life? at a glance 37
- Income and wealth 38
- Jobs and earnings 41
- Housing conditions 44
- Health status 47
- Work-life balance 50
- Education and skills 52
- Social connections 56
- Civic engagement and governance 57
- Environment quality 60
- Personal security 63
- Subjective well-being 66
- Conclusions 69
- References 69

Chapter 3. Well-being and the global financial crisis 71
- Introduction 72
- Income and wealth 72
- Jobs and earnings 80
- Health status 86
- Subjective well-being 88
- Civic engagement 90
- Social connections 92
- Statistical agenda ahead 94
- Conclusions 95
- References 96
- Annex 3.A1. Supporting country evidence 99

Chapter 4. Gender differences in well-being: Can women and men have it all? 103
- Gender inequality and well-being 104
- Measuring gender differences in well-being 106
- Women and men throughout their lifetime 106
- Women and men in paid and unpaid work 113
- Women and men in society 123
- Statistical agenda ahead 132
- Conclusions 133
- References 136
- Annex 4.A1. Determinants of time poverty 142
- Annex 4.A2. Determinants of intimate partner violence 144

Chapter 5. Well-being in the workplace: Measuring job quality 147
- Introduction 148
- Measuring employment quality148
- Jobs and earnings in fast-changing labour markets 152
- BeyondWork-life balance: Measuring quality of life at work 164
- Statistical agenda ahead 168
- Conclusions 169
- References 169
- Annex 5.A1. Interactions between job demands and job resources 172

Chapter 6. Measuring the sustainability of well-being over time 175
- Introduction 176
- Sustaining well-being over time: The capital approach 177
- Economic capital and well-being 179
- Natural capital and well-being 181
- Human capital and well-being 184
- Social capital and well-being 187
- Additional considerations in measuring capital stocks 190
- Proposed measures for sustaining well-being in the context of How’s Life? 196
- Statistical agenda ahead 199
- Conclusions 201
- References 202

Glossary 207

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