6 Nordic and international collaboration
In 2021, the Nordic Council of Ministers published the report “Towards a Nordic Wellbeing Economy” (43), which addresses various aspects of a wellbeing economy and the importance of not solely emphasising the countries’ GDP. Internationally, the OECD, the Wellbeing Alliance (WEAll) and Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) are promoting the development of emphasising wellbeing as a measure of and for societal development in addition to GDP.
6.1 Nordic experiences – opportunities and co-operation
As part of their public health policies, the Nordic countries have initiated a collaboration to implement wellbeing as a measure of societal development. Iceland and Finland are among those countries in the Nordic region – and in the world – that are at the forefront of implementing wellbeing in their policymaking Both are members of the international partnership Wellbeing Economy Governments (WEGo) and they participate in the Wellbeing Economy Alliance, which is also well established in Denmark and Sweden. The background for the work in these Nordic countries is the financial crisis of 2008, which highlighted the need to take a closer look at how the welfare state could create a secure society that facilitates good lives for everyone, without compromising the climate and the environment.
The Danish Happiness Research Institute, together with the Østifterne association, has started a project to establish a value bank called Trivselsbanken/The Wellbeing Bank. The intent of the value bank is to assist decision-makers and welfare providers to value interventions and public policies based on WALYs (Wellbeing Adjusted Life Years). The value bank will mainly be based on Danish and Nordic data, and it will be openly accessible and free of charge. They will collect data on wellbeing in a “wellbeing data library” and use this to assist welfare providers (e.g. voluntary organisations) in using WALY value assessments in their evaluations. They will further assist public decision makers with capacity building for conducting WALY assessments and build knowledge of best practices on how to apply WALY in decision-making processes using their networks.11 Consideration should be given to whether Norway should contribute data and gain knowledge of how the Trivselsbanken/The Wellbeing Bank works.
With the support of the Nordic Council of Ministers, Iceland organised the first Wellbeing Economy Forum in the summer of 2023. A Nordic network for a wellbeing economy has been established, and Norway should consider contributing to this network.
As shown in the examples below, the Nordic countries have had different progressions and different approaches to working with wellbeing as a measure of and for societal development.
Finland
Wellbeing is synonymous with wellbeing in Finland and is linked to social sustainability, while recognising the interdependence with economic and environmental sustainability. The health sector has ownership in close collaboration with the Prime Minister’s Office, while the Finnish Federation for Social Affairs and Health, an umbrella organisation for 200 different NGOs, has an informal leadership role. Finland has also drawn up an action plan for the wellbeing economy.
Iceland
The wellbeing approach encompasses both subjective and objective dimensions. Wellbeing is directly linked to factors in society, the economy and the environment as expressed through extensive wellbeing surveys in Iceland. The Prime Minister’s Office has a leading role in this work. Iceland has developed an indicator framework consisting of 39 indicators encompassing the areas of “society”, “environment” and “economy”, i.e. the objective components of wellbeing. However, efforts are now underway to include indicators that encompass the subjective wellbeing. The indicators are linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Statistics Iceland will monitor these indicators.
Sweden
As of 2017, the Swedish Government’s spring budget included an overview of 15 different indicators, called “new measurements of prosperity”. These indicators are intended to provide an idea of prosperity development, both in terms of the population’s wellbeing and sustainability of the economy in the long term. The set of indicators consists of five economic, five environmental and five social indicators. Social indicators include self-assessed health, interpersonal trust and satisfaction with life. The 15 indicators have been presented in every spring budget since 2017, distributed by economic, environmental and social indicators. This provides a simple overview of trends and conditions, and to some extent, inequality in distribution.
Denmark
Denmark conducts regular measurements of wellbeing, but not in the form of panel data (time series), and no indicator framework or targets have been developed for the population’s wellbeing. However, the think tank The Happiness Research Institute is a leader in wellbeing and wellbeing economics and has authored the report “Towards a Nordic Wellbeing Economy” for the Nordic Council of Ministers. In addition, a non-profit think tank has been established that is dedicated to wellbeing economics in a broad sense: The Wellbeing Economy Lab (WELA).
6.2 International experiences – opportunities and co-operation
Bhutan is the country that many believe has been working the longest to develop a policy-integrated framework for measuring and analysing welfare. As early as 1972, the King of Bhutan declared that Gross National Happiness was more important than the Gross National Product. Extensive data collection has been carried out since 2008 and a special Gross National Happiness Commission was established. The commission is the government’s body for incorporating this perspective and its associated measurement system, into policy. All policy plans are to be evaluated in terms of how they fit into the Gross National Happiness framework (46).
Over the past decade, a growing number of countries and organisations have worked to ensure that wellbeing becomes an overarching goal for societal development, and that it consequently supplements or replaces traditional societal goals. More than half of OECD member countries have developed some form of wellbeing/wellbeing framework12. These frameworks reflect areas of importance for a good life for the nation’s population. The frameworks also illustrate the extent to which opportunities to live a good life are equally distributed across the population.
Wellbeing and prosperity have been key priorities for the OECD for several years, particularly through its Better Life Initiative launched in 2011. The How’s Life? report is published regularly and provides a comprehensive picture of welfare in the OECD countries and other major economies. The OECD has established the Centre on Wellbeing, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE). Its purpose is to generate new data and policy approaches to improve people’s wellbeing and reduce inequalities, and to gain a better understanding of how policies will impact people’s lives both today and in the future. WISE has proposed to develop a Knowledge Exchange Platform on Wellbeing Metrics and Policy Practice. Norway supports this proposal.
Scotland, Iceland, Finland, Canada, Wales and New Zealand have established the Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership (WEGo). WEGo is a collaboration between national and regional governments to promote the sharing of expertise and transferable policy practices.
Wellbeing Economy Alliance – WEAll
The Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll) is the leading collaboration of organisations, alliances, movements and individuals working towards a wellbeing economy and to contribute to human and ecological wellbeing. WEAll was established in 2018 as a project of limited duration to catalyse the transition to a quality-of-life economy by fostering connection and collaboration between different actors in the new economy ecosystem.
Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership – WEGo
The Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership (WEGo) is a collaboration between national and regional governments interested in sharing expertise and transferable policy practices to advance their shared ambition of building wellbeing/wellbeing economies. WEGo is currently comprised of six national governments: Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, Wales, Finland and Canada.
WHO – Universal Well-being Economy Initiative (U-WE)
U-WEaims to influence economic and financial institutions and to inspire governments, business and the third sector to invest in recovery and growth practices that will improve personal, economic, social and environmental wellbeing for everyone in the WHO European Region. It was launched by WHO/Europe through the recently established New Economics Expert Group (NEEG) and the WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development based in Venice, Italy.
EU Wellbeing Economy Coalition
The Institute for European Environmental Policy and the ZOE Institute for Future-fit Economies founded the EU Wellbeing Economy Coalition to promote civil society co-operation and help move policies beyond economic growth towards a wellbeing economy. This includes non-governmental organisations, think tanks and trade union organisations, and it constitutes a diverse group with a shared vision to build a wellbeing economy at the EU level.
In addition to Nordic co-operation, it may beof particular interest to Norway to collaborate with the OECD’s newly established Centre on Well-being, Inclusion, Sustainability and Equal Opportunity (WISE) to exchange experiences and participate in the upcoming knowledge platform. It should also be assessed whether Norway can both contribute to and gain knowledge through participation in WEGo (Wellbeing Economy Governments partnership) together with the six countries represented there.