TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Burger, Martijn J.
AU  - Courchesne, Sarah
AU  - Greyling, Talita
AU  - O'Connor, Kelsey J.
AU  - Rossouw, Stephanie
AU  - Sarracino, Francesco
AU  - Veenhoven, Ruut
        TI  - Using Subjective Well-Being as a Headline Indicator in Dashboards to Track Human Progress
        PY  - 2026/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18383
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp18383
        AB  - Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has long been used as a proxy for human progress, despite growing recognition of its limitations. Recently, numerous "beyond GDP" initiatives have emerged, promoting multidimensional dashboards to assess quality of life. However, these often lack a clear headline indicator, limiting their usefulness for policymaking and public communication. This paper argues for placing subjective well-being (SWB) at the center of progress measurement in dashboards. SWB captures the overall impact of life conditions on people's lived experiences and offers a clear, outcome-oriented metric aligned with what truly matters: a good life. We explore how SWB can serve as a headline indicator, complemented by measures of the conditions that support it, to improve policy relevance, accountability, and legitimacy. We also address key measurement challenges and propose ways to overcome them for more effective integration into decision-making frameworks.
        KW  - beyond GDP
KW  - quality of life
KW  - measures
KW  - subjective well-being
        ER  -