The Composite Global Well-Being Index (CGWBI): A new multi-dimensional measure of human development

Abstract

This paper develops a new indicator for human development, the Composite Global Well-Being Index (CGWBI), spanning ten well-being dimensions: safety and security, health, education, housing, environment and living space, employment, income, life satisfaction, community and social life, and civic engagement. The index includes both subjective survey data and socio-economic indicators, and uses the same methodology as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Better Life Index, by extending it to developing countries. The paper’s results show that the devised CGWBI is highly correlated with the widely used Human Development Index (HDI); however, the CGWBI is less sensitive to income effects than the HDI. The CGWBI provides therefore an improvement over the HDI, by covering additional key well-being dimensions and minimizing the impact of per capita income on overall human development rankings. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.