What is Wellbeing Policy?

Public policies aim to achieve specific goals, such as: Reducing traffic accidents; Lowering poverty levels; Increasing the number of trained nurses. These policies represent choices on how a society allocates resources to address important issues.

“Wellbeing policy” (or “happiness policy”) focuses on improving overall quality of life for everyone.

Key Elements of Wellbeing Policy:

Wellbeing as the main goal in decision-making across organizations, businesses, communities, and governments.

• Decisions are based on understanding and measuring what impacts wellbeing.
• Clear objectives: Policies are designed with explicit goals to improve wellbeing.
• Evidence-based: Research and data inform what affects wellbeing.
• Evaluation: Outcomes are measured to ensure they meet people’s needs.

Why Adopt a Wellbeing Lens?

• Encourages collaboration across sectors to tackle complex challenges.
• Improves policy consistency and alignment.
• Supports decision-makers by showing how their choices affect overall wellbeing.
• Demonstrates progress in quality of life for all citizens.

Growing Resources:

Though more research is needed, many tools and resources already exist to support the practice of wellbeing policy. You can find more information in our External Resources section.