Gross Domestic Wellbeing (GDWe): an alternative measure of social progress – summary

Gross Domestic Wellbeing (GDWe)™ offers a holistic alternative to GDP as a measure of social progress. Using the framework and data in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Measures of National Wellbeing Dashboard, Carnegie UK developed a tool that provided a single figure for GDWe in England and mapped this against GDP between 2014-2020. We supplemented the analysis with a thematic review of over 800 recommendations from nearly 50 commissions and inquiries since 2010 to highlight the many areas of mutual focus, challenge, and concern.

The recommendations showed that though the data being collected by the ONS offered a useful starting point and a framework for measuring wellbeing, there were significant gaps.

In this summary, we provided an overview of the main findings, which show that GDWe was in decline before the COVID-19 pandemic began. We also produced a full report with detailed domain analysis and methodology.