Bhutan measures the well-being of its citizens using the Gross National Happiness Index. Many countries have developed indicators to measure the well-being and happiness of their citizens. The UK uses indicators across ten topic areas (domains) to measure the personal and economic well-being of its citizens. Each topic area or domain is represented by measures. There are 60 measures in total. For example, the measures of personal wellbeing include life satisfaction, happiness, hope for the future, fair treatment and feeling anxious.
The indicators provide the government with an alternative way of evaluating economic performance. Both subjective and objective measures are employed in arriving at national wellbeing. Subjective measures are not based on facts and could be self-reported, e.g. satisfaction with life, level of happiness or anxiety. Objective measures are unbiased, quantifiable and based on data/facts such as inflation rate or unemployment rate.
Table 1: Domains and measures of UK national wellbeing
| Domain | Measure |
| Personal wellbeing | satisfaction with life |
| how worthwhile things people do are | |
| happiness yesterday | |
| feeling anxiety yesterday | |
| hopeful about the future | |
| feel unfairly treated by the society | |
| Our relationships | fairly/extremely unhappy partner relationships |
| satisfaction with social relationships | |
| someone to rely on if there is a serious problem | |
| loneliness | |
| local community integration | |
| trust in others | |
| Health | healthy life expectancy at birth |
| satisfaction with their health | |
| physical health conditions | |
| evidence of depression or anxiety | |
| satisfaction with the healthcare system | |
| What we do | satisfaction with time use |
| satisfaction with main job | |
| time spent on unpaid work | |
| volunteer work | |
| engaged with/participated in arts or cultural activity | |
| participation in sport and physical activities | |
| visits to nature | |
| Where we live | satisfaction with accommodation |
| satisfaction with local area | |
| feeling of belonging to neighbourhood | |
| local connectivity | |
| digital exclusion | |
| crime | |
| feeling safe walking alone after dark | |
| Personal finance | household with less than 60% of median income |
| median wealth per household | |
| real median household income | |
| household income inequality | |
| gender pay gap | |
| difficulty to get by financially | |
| The economy | public sector net debt |
| consumer confidence | |
| unemployment rate | |
| inflation rate | |
| Education and skills | human capital |
| youngp people not in education, employment or training (NEET) | |
| people aged 16 to 64 with A-level equivalent qualifications or higher | |
| people aged 16 to 64 years with no qualifications | |
| satisfaction with own education and skills | |
| satisfaction with the education system | |
| Governance | voter turnout in UK general elections |
| trust in UK government | |
| voice in government matters | |
| satisfaction with police | |
| satisfaction with courts and legal system | |
| Environment | total greenhouse gas emissions |
| renewable energy use | |
| recycling rate for household waste | |
| extent of protected areas at land and sea | |
| relative abundance of priority species | |
| air pollution | |
| surface water status | |
| pro-environmental lifestyle |