MEDIA RELEASE – 28 May 09
THE NEXT BIG QUESTION: WHAT ARE THE BEST MEASURES OF A GOOD LIFE?
Australia and other Western nations do not represent the leading edge of national progress
and human development, argues Australia21 Director, Richard Eckersley.
‘The dominant
indicators of human development do not measure the social qualities that influence the more
personal and intimate aspects of life’ he says. 'And it is these qualities that profoundly affect
people's wellbeing and quality of life'.
His views are included in an article 'Is the West really the best?' published this week in the
latest issue of an OECD newsletter, 'Measuring the progress of societies'.* As a group, Western
nations score highest on most, if not all, of the indicators usually used to measure human
development: life expectancy, happiness and satisfaction, wealth, education, governance,
personal freedom, human rights.
But Mr Eckersley challenges these indicators, to the extent that they suggest continuing on this
developmental path will improve people's quality of life. 'The reasons are that life expectancy
is not a valid measure of overall health; happiness may not be comparable across cultures and
does not cover the all the attributes of healthy people or societies; and other common
measures, being mainly structural and institutional, do not adequately reflect the cultural and
moral qualities that shape the more intimate aspects of life, and so are central to wellbeing.'
For all the positive qualities of Western societies, most of their people do not believe life is
getting better. In Australia, surveys show about twice as many people think quality of life is
getting worse as think it is getting better. A 2006 survey found 61% of people felt that for most
people in their country, life was getting worse. Britain's Joseph Rowntree Foundation found in
its consultations, 'a strong sense of unease about some of the changes shaping British society'.
The top concerns were: a decline in community; individualism, consumerism and greed; and a
decline in values.
'The evidence shows that material progress does not simply and straightforwardly make us
richer, so giving us the freedom to live as we wish. Rather, it comes with an array of cultural
and moral prerequisites and consequences that affects profoundly how we think of the world
and ourselves, and so the choices we make. These choices are not, collectively, optimising
human health, wellbeing and potential. Measures of progress need to reflect this reality.'
'Developing a better model of human development and better measures of the good life has
important implications for national priorities, and virtually every aspect of public policy', says
Mr Eckersley.
This question is part of Australia21’s ‘Next Big Question’ project – for more information go to
Australia 21, a non-profit research company, and a visiting fellow at the Australian National
University.
For more information: Richard Eckersley 02 6281 0648/ richard.eckersley@australia21.org.au
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