Wellbeing to be measured

Plans outlined last November for a survey of people’s sense of wellbeing, quickly dubbed a “happiness index”, are now taking shape. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) will, from April, be including questions in its Integrated Household Survey about how people think and feel about their wellbeing .

The four questions ask how satisfied people are with their lives, how happy or anxious they feel and whether the things they do are worthwhile.

Paul Allin, ONS programme director, said: “Subjective wellbeing is one approach to understanding and measuring the wellbeing of the nation”.