Life in the UK

Programme summary

There is currently limited support for a wellbeing approach to government by both decision-makers and the public. The increasingly evident limitations of GDP, rising inequalities, and the threats to wellbeing posed by the climate crisis and rising costs of living underline the importance of doing more to advocate for our vision of collective wellbeing.

In 2020, Carnegie UK developed a new model for communicating and advocating for such an approach called Gross Domestic Wellbeing. After a successful pilot in England, in 2023 we established our Life in the UK programme which was designed to measure the collective wellbeing of the people of the UK, looking at social, economic, environmental, and democratic aspects of their lives. It also presents key findings in relation to how different demographics are doing across the UK.

Our Life in the UK index provides:

• A single score for collective wellbeing that shows if we are living better or worse over time.
• A score for each of the four areas of collective wellbeing.
• Collective wellbeing and domain scores for the UK as a whole, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and each of the English regions.
• Collective wellbeing and domain scores for different demographic groups.

If the UK Government is serious about delivering the ‘plan for change’ outlined in its 2024 manifesto, we strongly recommend that it adopts and implements useful and timely measures that track progress across a range of outcomes, as the Life in the UK index demonstrates is possible.

Key findings

• The Life in the UK Index now provides three years of robust evidence about what life is like for people across the country. The average person’s quality of life has not improved since the programme began in 2023.
• While more people report being able to keep their homes warm, millions still face economic hardship. Those living in social housing, larger families and people on low incomes remain most affected.
• Trust in the UK Government has increased since the general election, but most people still feel powerless to influence the decisions that shape their lives.
• Wide inequalities continue across society. The gap between those with higher incomes and secure housing and those without remains wide, shaping everything from reported quality of health to safety in the local community.

Find out more about our Life in the UK 2025 findings in our webinar below.