Measuring National Well-being

A joint meeting of the Official Statistics and Social Statistics Sections will take place on

8th March 2012 at 5pm with tea/coffee from 4.30pm, at the RSS, 12 Errol Street EC1Y 8LX

Speakers

Paul Allin, Director: Measuring National Well-being (MNW) programme, Office for National Statistics

Charles Seaford, Head of the Centre for Well-being, New Economics Foundation, will respond as a discussant.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Measuring National Well-being (MNW) programme aims to develop and publish an accepted and trusted set of National Statistics to understand and monitor well-being.

The programme was launched in November 2010 with a national debate on ‘What matters to you?’ to improve understanding of what should be included in measures of the nation’s well-being. Further information on the programme is at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/user-guidance/well-being/index.html

ONS has been undertaking  a consultation seeking views on a proposed set of domains (aspects of national well-being) and headline indicators which were outlined in the discussion paper “Measuring National Well-being - Discussion paper on domains and measures” (31 October 2011). The domains and indicators were developed from responses to the national debate, research into well-being and international initiatives.

In addition, ONS have recently released initial experimental results looking at individuals assessments of their own well-being, collected via ONS’s Opinions survey.

Attendance is free and open to all, but pre-registration is recommended. You can register by email meetings@rss.org.uk or by phone (020) 7638 8998. 
For further information about the meeting contact Charles Lound or David Matz (charles.lound@ons.gsi.gov.uk or david.matz@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk)