Labor is right to talk about well-being, but it depends on where you live
- Written by Ida Kubiszewski, Associate professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
Labor’s treasury spokesman, Jim Chalmers, wants to follow New Zealand’s example and introduce a “well-being budget” alongside the traditional budget that stresses economic growth, when Labor is next in office.
New Zealand’s budget, introduced last year, targets mental health, child welfare, indigenous reconciliation, the environment, suicide, and homelessness, along side more traditional measures such as productivity and investment.
Iceland is drawing up its own plans and Scotland isn’t far behind.
The United Nations is also promoting the concept through Sustainable Development Goals, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development through a Better Life Index.
The international Well-being Economy Alliance has thousands of individual members, more than 100 institutional members, a handful of governmental members, and is quickly growing.
Life satisfaction can be measured
Life satisfaction isn’t too difficult to measure, and can be compared between countries, over time.
The Gallup Organisation regularly asks the same question in 150 countries covering 98% of the world’s population:
Imagine an 11-rung ladder where the bottom (0) represents the worst possible life for you and the top (10) represents the best possible life for you
On which step of the ladder do you feel you personally stand at the present time?
In a similar way, Australia’s Household, Income and Labour Dynamics Survey (HILDA) asks:
All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life?
Answer on a scale from 0 (totally dissatisfied) to 10 (totally satisfied)
But it varies from place to place
In Australia, the national average can be misleading. Our analysis of the HILDA data, published in the journal of Ecological Economics, finds significant differences between areas of Australia related to factors such as environment, employment, health, and social structures, amongst others.
The map below shows that, while the national average was 7.5, in some areas of Australia the regional average was as low as 3. In other regions, it was as high as 10.
Average life satisfaction by region 2001-2017, scale 0 to 10
Authors: Ida Kubiszewski, Associate professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University