OECD Better Life Index

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (May 2024)

The OECD Better Life Index, created in May 2011 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, is an initiative pioneering the development of economic indicators which better capture multiple dimensions of economic and social progress.^[1][2]

The platform consists of a dashboard, that provides data and insights into key indicators - measuring areas such as wellbeing, environmental quality, quality of public services and security - alongside an interactive tool Your Better Life Index (BLI),^[3] which encourages citizens to create their own indexes by ranking each of the indicators according to the importance in their lives.

The index and tool were created as part of the OECD Better Life Initiative.^[4] This initiative began in 2011 in line with the recommendations of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress, also known as the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission, whose recommendations sought to address concerns that standard macroeconomic statistics like GDP failed to give a true account of people's current and future well-being.^[5] The initiative's goals are to develop social and wellbeing indicators that can better reflect growth focusing on four key areas; environmental sustainability, increased wellbeing, falling inequality, and systems resilience. The 'beyond growth' approach to economic progress is relatively new and the OECD Better Life Initiative promotes the co-production of what we might standardise by facilitating conversation between the public and policymakers.

Users can create their own economic index by ranking 11 areas of socio-economic progress by what is important to them. This generates a ranking so users can see how their country compares. Users are encouraged to share their indicators with others on the platform to view the latter's and discuss similarities and differences.

Users can also choose to share their data with OECD and will then be asked to provide more demographic data about their situation. The OECD Better Life Initiative then analyses all users input data and reports the findings in a bi-annual report named How's Life? Well-being. The data used in the report consists of 80+ indicators including measures on inequality and further socio-economic indicators. The findings reflect what is important to citizens, and how their current socio-economic situations reflect in the areas of governance that they prioritise. These insights are then used to guide governments to put well-being at the centre of their policymaking by shedding light on what well-being means to their citizens.^[6] In this way, by using the tool, citizens can shape public policy.