Human Wellbeing

What is human wellbeing?

• Human wellbeing is an overall measure of the health and quality of life of a group of people.

• Wellbeing can look different depending on location and economic status, e.g. in poor areas wellbeing is having the basics, whereas in richer areas it is measured by health, wealth, education, and happiness. 

• For high standards of wellbeing, people must access both primary needs (e.g. clean water) which are essential for survival, and secondary needs (e.g. access to education) which helps people live better lives.

Indicators to measure health, wealth, and education

• Differences in health, wealth and education are causes of variations in human wellbeing

We can measure differences in these factors through key indicators

Measure Health

• Health is the state of physical, mental, and social wellbeing

• Indicators to measure health include; 

• Life expectancy

• Infant Mortality Rate

• Percentage of underweight children under 5

• Access to healthcare (e.g number of doctors per 1000 people)

• Access to safe drinking water

• Reliable access to nutritious food (food security)

• Access to healthcare varies widely in different regions

Indicators like life expectancy correlate with improved wellbeing factors (e.g. medical care)

Sanitation 

• Sanitation refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe management and movement of human excreta from a toilet to a storage.

• Approximately 30% of Central and South Asia do not have access to any form of sanitation

Lack of sanitation can lead to the spread of infectious diseases (e.g. diarrhoea)

Education

• Education provides opportunities to read, write and count

• It is a key sector which must be addressed to lift nations out of struggle or poverty

• Education allows for people to become;

  • More engaged w/ society

  • Have a range of skills and tools to better themselves

  • Become part of the workforce

  • Be healthy + combat poverty

  • Reduce wellbeing inequalities

• There are many barriers to a successful education;

  • System barriers (e.g. lack of teachers)

  • Attendance barriers (e.g. poor transport facilities)

Social barriers (e.g. language barriers, world conflict)

GNH (Global National Happiness Index)

• A qualitative measure to measure happiness

• Assumption that happiness correlates w/ other wellbeing indicators

• GNH uses social indicators, (e.g. life expectancy, freedom, GDP) to rank countries overall happiness

• Bhutan, invented the GNH, and prioritizes it over other measures such as GDP

• This is done by;

  • Environmental conversation

  • Sustainable development

  • Preservation of culture

HDI (Human Development Index)

• A measure of wellbeing that combines many individual indicators (e.g. health, education, and income)

• HDI is a value between 0-1

Infant mortality rate (IMR)

measure of the number of children who die under one year of age for every 1000 children born

Champagne glass distribution

Is a model that illustrates the extreme inequality in global wealth distribution. The top is wealthy that controls a vast majority of the wealth, and the majority of the population at the bottom having very little control. This gives a large number of poor people with limited resources and opportunities