What is a well-being economy?

The term well-being economy is used to describe a perspective which differs from the traditional approach to measuring the prosperity of the economy or how wealthy a population is based on exclusively economic metrics. Instead, well-being and quality of life are assessed based on various social and environmental factors as well as economic ones. A well-being economy is therefore an economy that strives to prioritise the collective well-being of both current and future generations. It is an economy that works for people, not the other way around.

In a well-being economy, clear objectives for public prosperity and quality of life influence the government's emphases and prioritisation in decision-making and planning. Indicators reflecting a variety of aspects of well-being in a wide context are gathered and used to assess the success of the government's policies. The objective is to have fiscal policy support the government's aim of improving the quality of life of the general public across a broad spectrum. A set of well-being indicators is also used to assess the long-term impact of government decisions in budgeting.

Examples of this in the Medium-term Fiscal Strategy for 2024-2028 are indicators showing the proportion of renewable energy sources in transport; the Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Climate provides an account of the status and expected development during the period of validity of the strategy. The budget for the year 2024 then lists actions that will contribute to achieving the targets set and changes in financial allocations for them. In this way, new expenditures are aimed at supporting the objectives set, the links between them are made visible and results are followed-up on.