Remember General Well-Being – David Cameron’s attempt to come up with a new set of statistics to encapsulate all
the things that GDP doesn’t? Well one aspect of it, the Office for National Statistics says, is ‘subjective well-being’. That is, how do people rate their own well-being? It’s not all there is to
well-being, we’re told – health, personal relationships, job satisfaction and economic security will need to be added to the mix too – but it is an important part.
And so, the ONS has set about measuring it. Over the last few months, they’ve begun asking the public four questions:
Respondents were asked to answer on a scale of 0 (not at all) to 10 (completely).Overall, how satisfied are you with your life nowadays? Overall, to what extent do you feel the things you do in your life are worthwhile? Overall, how happy did you feel yesterday? Overall, how anxious did you feel yesterday?
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in