Moving Forward on Well-being (Quality of Life) Measures in Canada
There is continued and growing awareness of the need to integrate information on economic, social and environmental conditions to better measure the well-being or quality of life and progress of nations, a need to move ‘Beyond GDP.’ Many countries are moving beyond just the measurement and monitoring of indicators to a more fulsome integration of quality of life into the policy process. The Government of Canada is moving in a similar direction. This provides Statistics Canada with an opportunity to take stock and review the status of well-being measurement in Canada. The overall objective of this paper is to provide an overview of selected approaches to measuring and reporting well-being in Canada and internationally, and to identify opportunities to move forward with new and enhanced measures to address current social, economic and environmental issues facing Canada that may impact the well-being of its population. This report highlights six trends and proposes a range of data development and measurement activities to advance well-being measurement in the following key areas: digitization, affordability and economic uncertainty, the quality of jobs, social cohesion, neighbourhoods and the built environment and climate change.
Leave a Reply