What is it?
The OECD Better Life Index takes a different approach to all other measures: it doesn't tell you what matters. You decide. The interactive index lets anyone assign their own weights to 11 dimensions of wellbeing, generating a personalised ranking of 41 countries. It's both a serious measurement tool and a public engagement exercise in what a good life actually means.
Why was it developed?
The OECD launched the Better Life Initiative in 2011 following the landmark Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Commission, convened by French President Sarkozy in 2008, which concluded that GDP was a deeply flawed measure of societal progress and recommended a dashboard of wellbeing indicators. The BLI was the OECD's practical response — a tool for comparing wellbeing across its member nations.
How does it work?
The BLI measures 41 countries (OECD members plus partner countries) across 11 dimensions:
- Housing: rooms per person, housing expenditure, basic facilities.
- Income: household net adjusted disposable income and net financial wealth.
- Jobs: employment rate, job security, long-term unemployment, personal earnings.
- Community: quality of social support networks.
- Education: educational attainment, student skills (PISA scores), years in education.
- Environment: air quality, water quality.
- Governance: voter turnout, consultation in rulemaking.
- Health: life expectancy, self-reported health status.
- Life satisfaction: overall life satisfaction (Cantril Ladder).
- Safety: assault rates, homicide rates.
- Work-life balance: employees working very long hours, time for leisure and personal care.
What does GDP miss that this captures?
GDP captures income and output but nothing about the quality of the environment people live in, the safety of their streets, the balance between work and personal life, or their sense of community.
- Two countries can have identical GDP per capita but radically different scores on safety, work-life balance, and community — the BLI makes this visible.
- The interactive weighting feature reveals that people in different countries prioritise different dimensions — there is no universal ranking of what matters.
- Countries like Australia and Denmark rank highly on BLI dimensions that have little correlation with their GDP rank.
Real-world use
The BLI is primarily a research and communication tool:
- The OECD has published annual updates and country notes drawing on BLI data to inform policy recommendations.
- The interactive website has received millions of visits, making it one of the most publicly engaged wellbeing tools ever created.
- BLI data is cited in national policy documents across OECD member countries.
- The framework influenced the development of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Limitations
The BLI has significant limitations:
- It covers only 41 countries — the majority of the world's population is not included.
- There is no single BLI score — the personalised weighting means different people get different rankings, making political comparisons difficult.
- It doesn't track changes over time in a consistent way.
- Some dimensions rely on self-reported data, which can be culturally biased.
The OECD BLI is the most interactive and democratically engaging of all the alternatives to GDP. Its central message — that what counts as a good life is a question for citizens, not just economists — is one worth sitting with.
Related GDP alternatives
Health, education, and standard of living — combined into one number that tells a richer story than GDP alone.
A growing alliance of governments that have decided to measure success by human and ecological wellbeing — not GDP growth.
What if we started with GDP, added the good things it ignores, and subtracted the bad things it counts as positive?