What’s driving wellbeing and quality of life approaches around the world? Seven examples that show it’s a movement with momentum
As leaders of the quality of life movement in Canada with our Nova Scotia Quality of Life Initiative (NSQOLI), we have informed or are connected to other initiatives across communities and countries.
We’re not the only ones working to centre wellbeing as a measure of success and progress that guides us all; this work is a movement with growing momentum!
The NSQOLI itself grows out of the efforts by our primary academic partner, the University of Waterloo’s Canadian Index of Wellbeing, which itself sits on the shoulders of work that came before it.
The wellbeing movement is worldwide, and so is the corresponding study of quality of life, with academic organizations like the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies. But quality of life studies isn’t just for researchers. It’s for policymakers and business owners, legislators, budgeters, and community advocates and organizers. It’s for all of us.
And what we’re doing will take all of us too.
Changing the approach to quality of life – and making sure that we’re considering the full picture of how folks are doing – is a mission that includes academic, public, private, and for-impact (community) sectors. The reason we, and more and more others, are making this our mission, is because we believe it's the only way to address the intersecting crises of our time, and will lead to more cohesive solutions and connected communities that improve quality of life for all.
So how are people putting wellbeing at the heart of policy around the world? What does it look like, tangibly, to center wellbeing as a measure of success and progress that guides us all? Check out these seven examples from around the world in our own backyard.
#1: Canada’s Quality of Life Framework
The Quality of Life Framework for Canada was developed from 2020 to 2021 and released in two documents – ‘Budget 2021-Annex 4: Gender, Diversity, and Quality of Life Statement’ and a report called ‘Measuring What Matters.’
Canada’s federal Quality of Life Framework
The Treasury Board Secretariat is responsible for ensuring the Framework is implemented across the federal government, and Statistics Canada has an understandably big role because of its job to survey (i.e., measure) how residents in Canada are doing.
Statistics Canada launched the Quality of Life Hub in 2022, which brings together existing economic, social, and environmental datasets that measure quality of life in Canada. They’re still building out the Hub – with new data and refinements – so give them your feedback!
Canada is now involved in the Wellbeing Economic Governments partnership (WEGo), a group formed in 2018 that has grown to six nations: Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales, Finland, and Canada participating. Each member is working towards a wellbeing economy and can share what’s worked for them with each other.
Psst! What’s a wellbeing economy?
A wellbeing economy is one that puts people and the planet first, instead of putting growth and profits ahead of everything else.
#2 Scotland’s National Performance Framework
Scotland published its National Performance Framework in 2007, and it includes 81 indicators that the country measures itself against. A decade later, Scotland founded WEGo alongside Iceland and New Zealand. Scotland and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, specifically, have continued to show leadership in transforming what governments value in decision-making.
Like the NSQOLI, Scotland acknowledges that achieving the outcomes it set out for itself will take national and local government, businesses, voluntary organizations, and people living in Scotland working together – there’s a role for everyone.
Anyone can see the progress Scotland is making through an overview, by each National Indicator in detail, an interactive dashboard, or by downloading the data.
During her speech at a 2019 TED Summit in Edinburgh, First Minister Sturgeon said:
“When we focus on wellbeing, we start a conversation that provokes profound and fundamental questions. What really matters to us in our lives? What do we value in the communities that we live in? What kind of country, what kind of society do we really want to be? And when we engage people in those questions and finding the answers to those questions, then I believe we have a much better chance of addressing the alienation and disaffection from politics that is so prevalent in so many countries across the developed world today.”
>> Watch First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s TED Talk: Why governments should prioritize well-being
A creative illustration of Scotland’s National Performance Framework.
#3: Iceland’s Indicators for Measuring Well-being*
In 2019, the Government of Iceland released its ‘Indicators for Measuring Well-being,’ a digestible six-page document that lays out the why (economic indicators alone aren’t enough to inform government policy), what they did (public survey and engagement), and what the 39 quality of life indicators are.
Like Statistics Canada, Statistics Iceland gathers, analyzes, and shares the country’s indicators on prosperity and quality of life.
Writing about wellbeing as the measure of Iceland’s success in 2020, Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said, “The wellbeing government economy project […] is an attempt to develop a new economic model, which is centred on wellbeing rather than on production and consumption. Reinforced by the OECD, the idea is not revolutionary in the sense it still focuses on the measurable. Yet, developing wellbeing indicators has the potential to transform fiscal policies, putting people and the planet first” (2020).
*You may notice some inconsistencies in the spelling of wellbeing (or, well-being) throughout this blog post. We use ‘wellbeing,’ but when we’re referring to official names from places that use a hyphen, we do too.
#4: New Zealand’s Living Standards Framework
New Zealand’s Living Standards Framework (LSF), released in 2021, “captures many of the things that matter for New Zealanders’ wellbeing, now and into the future” (New Zealand, 2022).
In practice, it’s used alongside other national frameworks, supports the government’s understanding of what works for wellbeing, and encourages a long and wide view of policies.
Like Canada and Scotland, New Zealand has created a way to share its quality of life measurements called the LSF Dashboard. It also amended its Public Finance Act in 2020 to legislate the Treasury provide a wellbeing report at least once every four years, which the LSF Dashboard informs. The Treasury shared its first wellbeing report in 2022.
The Treasury updates the LSF Dashboard every six months and contains a range of outcome indicators for each level of the LSF. A part of the dashboard sharing measurements of social cohesion demonstrates the strength of multi-year measurements.
New Zealand also released its first ‘Wellbeing Budget’ in 2019, which goes beyond economic growth and data to centre wellbeing. The result is an incredibly robust plan and a new approach to implementation.
New Zealand’s Living Standards Framework.
#5: Finland’s Economy of Wellbeing
In 2019, Finland chose ‘Economy of Wellbeing’ as one of the main themes for its Ministry of Social Affairs and Health. A couple years later, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health appointed a steering group to the economy of wellbeing that was tasked with creating a national action plan to integrate wellbeing into informed decision-making.
And they did! The Government of Finland has a national Economy of Wellbeing Action Plan for 2023-2025 with five priorities to get them there.
In addition to the Action Plan, Finland has demonstrated its support and leadership for wellbeing economies. It’s also worthwhile to note that long before Finland’s more recent actions to centre wellbeing, it laid the groundwork by creating a government culture of long-term thinking and coordinated working.
Right now, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare is developing a wellbeing economy model and indicators by the end of 2024.
#6: Wales’ ‘Well-being of Future Generations Act’
Wales’ national wellbeing goals
Wales legislated the internationally unique ‘Well-being of Future Generations Act’ in 2015, which gives them “the ambition, permission, and legal obligation to improve our social, cultural, environmental, and economic well-being” (Wales, 2023).
The Act requires 48 public bodies in Wales to carry out sustainable development by “setting (and publishing) well-being objectives designed to maximize contribution to achieving each of the well-being goals” (Future Generations Commissioner for Wales). In addition to public bodies, the Act established regional Public Service Boards, which are legislated to measure local wellbeing and plan to improve it in ways that contribute to all seven of the Act’s goals.
The accompanying ‘Future Generations framework for projects’ is a kind of filter through which new projects and developments are evaluated and decided on.
#7: The UK’s What Works Centre for Wellbeing
So far, we’ve talked about government frameworks, bodies, and legislation. The What Works Centre for Wellbeing is the UK’s “independent body for wellbeing evidence, policy, and practice.” They work with the research community, governments, policymakers, businesses, and charity organizations to undertake research and evidence reviews, create resources, and share insights and findings about what works for wellbeing. They do this by advising and convening across all sectors, undertaking data analyses and measuring impact, and providing training and education.
You don’t need to be in the UK for what they’re learning to be relevant. Their ‘wellbeing evidence hub’ embodies their perspective that their work is a “public good, available to all” by making their extensive information available and searchable.
The momentum to measure what matters
Movement toward wellbeing economies and quality of life frameworks has picked up momentum since the late 2010s. It’s a movement to centre wellbeing, to put it at the heart of making decisions, policies, and budgets, a movement to measure what matters so we may all thrive.
In so many ways, it feels like we’re at a tipping point globally. We’re facing intersecting crises related to the climate, cost of living, and health amidst increasing disconnection, lack of trust, and political polarization at all scales.
But what if we’re approaching a tipping point in our response to these crises? Or could be?
A growing number of countries and communities are turning to wellbeing and quality of life as a guiding measure. International measures like the OECD’s Better Life Initiative and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals are used by people around the world.
Our perspective is that what we’re doing is many-hands and many-years work. It’s multi-generational in that it will take multiple generations, and it is for future generations. This isn’t an invitation to join us, it’s an invitation to help guide where we go together.