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Official statistics for
measuring well-being at
national and regional level in
EU: some comments from
users
Pilar Martin-Guzman and María Gil
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Well-being
• A multidimensional concept
• Experienced by individuals
• But within a particular social and cultural
context
Two different approaches to wellbeing
• Hedonic: associated with subjective
happiness and the experience of pleasure
• Eudemonic: engagement of individuals in
certain activities chosen according to their
values and preferences. Availability of
material and social resources to carry out
these activities
The selection of indicators for the
measurement of well-being
• A difficult task
• General agreement does not exist
A possible choice
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Monetary access to goods and services:
wealth, disposable income, consumption.
Basic life conditions: education, labour status
and working conditions, household and living
conditions, health, mobility, environment and
sustainability.
Social life conditions: leisure, friends,
neighbours, cultural and sport life, social and
political participation and contribution,
victimisation rate.
Subjective perceptions on the physical,
economic and social aspects of well-being.
Main statistcal sources available in
Spain
• Surveys: National Institute of Statistics
(INE), EUROSTAT, Central Bank of Spain
• Registers: Income Tax Declarations,
others
Surveys implemented by INE
• Household Budget Surveys of 1973, 1980,
1990
• Continuous Household Budget Survey,
1998-2005
• Household Budget Survey 2007
EUROSTAT
• European Community Household Panel
(ECHP) 1994-2001
• Survey on Income and Living Conditions,
2004, 2005, 2006
Central Bank of Spain
• Household Financial Survey, 2002, 2005
Administrative registers
• Survey on Income Tax records
2002,2003,2004
• Panel on Income Tax records 1999-2004
• Others
Possibilities and limitations
according to
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the choice of the main monetary variable
the feasibility of comparisons and
analysis at regional level
the suitability of data for longitudinal
studies
the coverage of the main indicators
usually linked to the concept of wellbeing, and
the quality of the data obtained
The choice of the main monetary
variable
• Expenditure: Household Budget Surveys
• Income: ECHP, SILC 2004, 2005,2006,
HBS 1973, 1980, 1990
• Income+ Wealth: Household Financial
Survey
• Subjective information: ECHP, SILC,
HBS1990, continuous HBS
The feasbility of comparisons and
analysis at regional level
• All HBS
• ECHP 2000
• SILC 2004, 2005, 2006
• Survey and Panel on Income Tax records
Suitability of data for longitudinal
studies
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ECHP
SILC
Continuous HBS (only two years)
Current HBS (only two years)
Panel on Income Tax registers
The coverage of the main
indicators
• HBS: from 1990 on, problems with
subjective information, income
• From ECHP to SILC: problems with nonmonetary deprivation indices, use of pulic
services
The quality of the data obtained
• Current HNS: imputation of income
• SILC 2004: imputation of income
Some conclusions
• No perfect source. But SILC has many
advantages
• Trend towards simplification of questionnaires:
need to combine data from different sources
• Official statistics should be of public access,
without restrictions.
• A new survey needs time: first waves sometimes
problematic
• Transparency of producers on quality issues is
highly appreciated by researchers