Years of good life is a well-being indicator designed to serve research on sustainability

Wolfgang Lutz (), Erich Striessnig (), Anna Dimitrova, Simone Ghislandi, Anastasia Lijadi, Claudia Reiter, Sonja Spitzerr and Dilek Yildiz
Additional contact information
Wolfgang Lutz: Department of Demography, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria; International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Vienna Institute of Demography, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1030 Vienna, Austria; Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Erich Striessnig: Department of Demography, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria; Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria;
Anna Dimitrova: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093
Simone Ghislandi: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Department of Social and Political Sciences, Bocconi University, 20136 Milan, Italy
Anastasia Lijadi: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Claudia Reiter: Department of Demography, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria; International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Sonja Spitzerr: Department of Demography, University of Vienna, 1030 Vienna, Austria; Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria
Dilek Yildiz: International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria; Vienna Institute of Demography, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 1030 Vienna, Austria; Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna, 2361 Laxenburg, Austria

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021, vol. 118, issue 12, e1907351118

Abstract: Sustainable development (SD) as popularized by the Brundtland Commission and politically enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals has been the explicit focus of sustainability science. While there is broad agreement that the trend of human well-being ( W ) over time should serve as a sustainability criterion, the literature so far has mostly addressed this in terms of its determinants rather than focusing on W itself. There is broad agreement that an indicator for W should have multiple constituents, clearly going beyond gross domestic product. Here, we propose a tailor-made indicator to serve precisely this purpose following a set of specified desiderata, including its applicability to flexibly defined subnational populations by gender, place of residence, ethnicity, and other relevant characteristics. The indicator, years of good life (YoGL), reflects the evident fact that in order to be able to enjoy any quality of life, one has to be alive and thus is primarily based on life expectancy. However, since mere survival is not considered good enough, life years are counted conditional on meeting minimum standards in two dimensions: the objective dimension of capable longevity (consisting of being out of absolute poverty and enjoying minimal levels of physical and cognitive health) and the subjective dimension of overall life satisfaction. We illustrate the calculation of this indicator for countries and subpopulations at different stages of development and with different degrees of data availability.

Keywords: sustainability science; human well-being indicator; basic needs; survival; good life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.pnas.org/content/118/12/e1907351118.full (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nas:journl:v:118:y:2021:p:e1907351118

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by PNAS Product Team ().