science

Wellbeing economy

Wellbeing economy is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wellbeing economy rather than just read about it. In short: Wellbeing economy is a public policy framework in which the economy is designed to serve social, health, cultural, equity and nature outcomes. The aim is to go beyond gross domestic product (GDP) as the main measure of national economic performance.

Key takeaways

Wellbeing economy belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wellbeing economy to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wellbeing economy from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Wellbeing economy is a public policy framework in which the economy is designed to serve social, health, cultural, equity and nature outcomes. The aim is to go beyond gross domestic product (GDP) as the main measure of national economic performance. Since the early 2000s there has been growing interest in wellbeing as a framework in research, measurement and policy.

National and international adoption A number of countries have introduced wellbeing metrics to guide public policy decision-making and inform budgetary processes with a focus on education and skills, health, gender and inclusion. The approach has been adopted as national policy in a number of countries including Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales, Finland and Canada which established the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership (WEGo) in 2021. Intergovernmental organisations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) have also adopted wellbeing as a whole-of-government approach to meet complex social, environmental and public health challenges. This was first articulated in 2021 with the adoption of the Geneva Charter for Wellbeing. and in May 2023 the WHO Assembly adopted A global framework for integrating well-being into public health utilizing a health promotion approach. The Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) is the leading collaboration of organisations, alliances, movements and individuals working towards a Wellbeing Economy. WEAll was born in 2018 as a time-bound project to catalyse a transition towards a Wellbeing Economy by promoting radical connection and collaboration between different actors of the new economy ecosystem, so they can achieve impact larger than the sum of their parts. Ambassadors of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance include: Bayo Akomolafe, James Gustave Speth, Darrick Hamilton, Sophie Howe, Katherine Trebeck, Abdul El-Sayed, Ayabonga Cawe, Carolina Urrutia Vásquez, Christian Felber, David Korten, Giancarlo Pucci, Jason Hickel, Kate Pickett, Kate Raworth, Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir, Lebohang Liepollo Pheko, Neva Goodwin, Pedro Tarak, Dirk Philipsen, Peter Blom, Rajiv Joshi, Richard Wilkinson, Robert Costanza, Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, Sharan Burrow, Tim Jackson, Bill McKibben, Victor Mochkofsky, and Michael Mezzatesta.

Well-being washing Well-being washing or WW (a compound word modeled on "whitewashing") is a form of advertising or marketing spin that deceptively uses public relations and platitudes to persuade the public that an entity cares about employee health and well-being. In place of genuine support, superficial gestures like one-off yoga classes, talks, or perks are offered that don't address underlying issues like excess hours, lack of autonomy, and work-life balance. Well-being washing may attempt to remediate the symtpoms of an organization without addressing the underlying root cause. Well-being washing coincides with the rise of green-washing and the emergence of the wellbeing economy.

Notable examples

Australia

Bhutan

Canada

Finland

Germany

Iceland

Netherlands

New Zealand New Zealand was a pioneer in this space. In May 2019, under Jacinda Ardern's Labour Government, New Zealand launched the country’s first Wellbeing Budget, which committed to putting people’s wellbeing and the environment at the heart of its policies. Rather than focus solely on GDP, they picked five priority areas: climate and environment, productive work, Māori and Pacific opportunities, child wellbeing, and mental and physical health. Prime Minister Ardern stated: “The purpose of government spending is to ensure citizens’ health and life satisfaction, and that — not wealth or economic growth — is the metric by which a country’s progress should be measured. GDP alone does not guarantee improvement to our living standards and does not take into account who benefits and who is left out.” The approach was scraped by the subsequent National-led coalition government in 2024. New Zealand has an active hub of the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, called Wellbeing Economy Alliance Aotearoa New Zealand (WEAll Aotearoa NZ). On their website WEAll Aotearoa describe themselves as "a non-partisan and independent ‘think and do’ tank working to redesign Aotearoa New Zealand’s economy around the wellbeing of our people and te taiao. We use an evidence-informed approach and focus upstream to develop practical, long-term solutions for the public good."

United Kingdom

England

Scotland

Wales

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Public opinion A survey made by Ipsos for the organization Earth4All in 17 of the G20 countries, found that 68% of the respondents support prioritizing wellbeing over profit.

See also Happiness economics Quality of life Sophie Howe

References

External links OECD Better Life Initiative International Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) group

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wellbeing economy

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wellbeing economy claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wellbeing economy before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wellbeing economy ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wellbeing economy

In research: Wellbeing economy appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wellbeing economy in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wellbeing economy is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Economic policy, Welfare economics, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wellbeing economy outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wellbeing economy in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wellbeing economy means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wellbeing economy out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wellbeing economy in simple terms?

Why does Wellbeing economy matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wellbeing economy?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wellbeing economy.