Spotlight
Measuring progress, well-being and beyond GDP in the UK: May 2025
What's in the bulletin?
- Gross domestic product (GDP) and the wider National Accounts are defined internationally in the United Nations (UN) System of National Accounts (SNA); the latest version of the SNA was adopted in March 2025.
- The SNA 2025 contains improvements related to measuring the economy and captures some discussion on wider measures of well-being and sustainability (“beyond GDP”); however, these are a lighter-touch approach and do not fully define well-being or create a framework for integrating all such beyond GDP data.
- The SNA is an important contributor of relevant metrics, but it is not the best channel for elaborating on beyond GDP frameworks; however, there are other international initiatives that are, including a new High Level Expert Group on Beyond GDP, a UN technical Expert Group on well-being measurement, and several initiatives such as from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: January 2025
What's in the bulletin?
- The following information is from data collected from 8 January to 2 February 2025, based on adults in Great Britain.
- When asked about the important issues facing the UK today, the most commonly reported issues were the NHS (86%), the cost of living (86%), the economy (71%), crime (60%), housing (57%), climate change and the environment (57%), and immigration (54%).
- Younger adults aged 16 to 29 years were more likely than older adults to report the cost of living, housing, employment, education and EU exit as important issues; older adults aged 70 years and over were more likely than younger adults to report the NHS, the economy, crime, immigration and international conflict.
UK Measures of National Well-being Dashboard
An overview of well-being in the UK on an individual, community and national level. Considers change across 59 measures of well-being, grouped by 10 topic areas.
Datasets related to Measuring progress, well-being and beyond GDP
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UK Measures of National Well-being
The UK’s progress across 10 topic areas of national well-being. Breakdowns by UK country and region, age and sex, including quality information where available.
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Estimates of quarterly greenhouse gas emissions
Estimates of greenhouse gas emissions using the Chow-Lin regression-based temporal disaggregation method, quarterly data.
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Household satellite account, UK
Biennial data on the output, intermediate consumption and gross value added of home produced services.
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Annual personal well-being estimates
Annual estimates of life satisfaction, feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile, happiness and anxiety in the UK, by national, country, regional, county, local and unitary authority level and personal characteristics including analysis on the characteristics that are most likely to impact personal well-being.
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Experiences of NHS healthcare services in England
Experiences of local GP services, NHS treatment waiting lists, dentistry and pharmacy services, analysing data from the Health Insight Survey commissioned by NHS England. These are official statistics in development.
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Children's well-being measures
The latest data for the measures of children’s well-being, complementing the UK Measures of National Well-being.
Publications related to Measuring progress, well-being and beyond GDP
Statistical bulletins
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UK Environmental Accounts: 2025
Measuring the contribution of the environment to the economy, the impact of economic activity on the environment, and responses to environmental issues.
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UK natural capital accounts: 2024
Estimates of the financial and societal value of natural resources to people in the UK.
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Personal well-being in the UK: April 2022 to March 2023
Estimates of life satisfaction, worthwhile, happiness, and anxiety, by select geographies including local authority level and individual characteristics and circumstances.
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Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: April 2025
Social insights on daily life and events, including experiences of the cost of living, as well as attitudes to important issues from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN).
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Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2024
Crime against households and people aged 16 years and over, using data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) and police recorded crime. Police recorded crime data also include crimes against businesses, society and children.
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Health in England: 2015 to 2021
Insights into England’s health during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic at national, regional and local authority level, using the Health Index.
Articles
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Which skills are employers seeking in your area?
Explore which jobs are advertised the most in your UK local authority area, and how many local residents have the relevant skills to fill them
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UK inclusive wealth and income accounts
Estimates and analysis of economic progress, including a broader range of economic activities and assets than gross domestic product (GDP), like unpaid household services, ecosystem services, and more.
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Inclusive capital stock, UK
Bringing together estimates of productive capital, natural capital and human capital, this article gives a picture of the UK’s inclusive capital stock for 2019 and 2020.
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Overview of human capital estimates in the UK
National estimates of human capital stock in the UK for years between 2004 and 2020. Includes full and employed human capital estimates for each year.
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Exploring loneliness in children, Great Britain
Analysis of children's (aged 10 to 15 years) reporting of loneliness and perception of their circumstances from The Children’s Society Household Survey.
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Energy efficiency of housing in England and Wales
Insights on the energy efficiency and central heating main fuel type for new and existing homes by property type, tenure, and property age for national and subnational geographies.
Methodology related to Measuring progress, well-being and beyond GDP
Find, compare and visualise statistics about places within the United Kingdom.