Over the last decade there has been a drive globally to move away from purely economic measures, such as GDP, as the indicators of a nation’s well-being and progress. Approaches which draw on social and environmental, as well as economic, factors are now a common international objective. Importance is also placed on asking how individuals rate their own lives and surroundings, rather than purely focusing on objective measures of well-being. 

In this context, by following the widely-used “Better Life Index” framework  developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Jersey’s well-being is measured and compared across 11 dimensions of well-being. The OECD is an international organisation, comprising 36 member countries and several partners, which has the mission of promoting policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. 

A Better Life Index for Jersey was first produced and published in 2013. A second report, relating to calendar year 2018, presented updated measures for Jersey and the OECD nations and also a comparison of the Island with more than 400 sub-national regions of the OECD . This latest report represents a further update of the national and regional comparisons using the most recently available data from the OECD; data for Jersey relates to either the same reference year or the closest year for which data is available. 

On a national level, Jersey: