oecd work on measuring well-being and progress martine durand oecd chief statistician and director...
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OECD Work on Measuring Well-Being and Progress
Martine DurandOECD Chief Statistician and Director of Statistics
e-Frame European ConferenceParis, 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 marketGoes beyond the averageGoes beyond “here and now”
The OECD work on measuring well-being and progress
2
The OECD Better Life InitiativeBuilding on almost 10 years of OECD work under the Global Project
Now moving to measuring what matters most in PEOPLE’s life
OECD@50: 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?
Num
ber 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
0,000,100,200,300,400,500,600,700,800,90
Income and Wealth
Jobs and Earnings
Housing
Health Status
Work and Life
Education and SkillsSocial Connections
Civic Engagement and Governance
Environmental Quality
Personal Security
Subjective Well-being
Germany
Italy
Spain
Inequalities in well-being : incomeHigh income inequalities in many OECD countries …
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
Gini coefficient, 2008 or latest year available
… that have often increased
-0.04
-0.02
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
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
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Primary Secondary Tertiary 1 2 3 4 5Axis TitleEducation Incomequintile
65
70
75
80
85
90
95
Primary Secondary Tertiary 1 2 3 4 5Axis Title
Education Incomequintile
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 2012
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Environmental sustainability
Production-based and demand-based CO2 emissions,Rate of change per year, 1995-2005
Demand-based CO2 emissions grew faster than production-based emissions in the OECD area
Source : OECD, Towards Green Growth: Monitoring Progress – OECD Indicators
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
OECD Other major economies
Production Demand
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 ?
Housing
Income
Jobs
Community
Education
Environment
Governance
Health
Life sa
tisfacti
onSafety
Work and Li
fe balance7.50%
8.00%
8.50%
9.00%
9.50%
10.00%
10.50%
11.00%
AllMaleFemale
Male63%
Female37%
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 countriesExtending 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
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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
PoliciesAt OECD
–Involving policy groups –Developing new analytical framework for multi-dimensional
country reviews)
Thank [email protected]
oecdbetterlifeinitiative.orgoecdbetterlifeindex.org