The index, now published quarterly, attempts to give the city’s policymakers something they have never had before: a monetary value on wellbeing. Stockholm residents say they would give up an average of 3,064 kronor (about $275) per month to climb one point on a 1–10 wellbeing scale. That willingness to pay forms the basis of a model that places wellbeing beside GDP as a measure of growth and prosperity.

“You often hear that what gets measured gets done,” says Micael Dahlen, Director of the Center for Wellbeing, Welfare, and Happiness at the Stockholm School of Economics and first author of the report. “If we want happier people, we need to understand and measure happiness in a structured way. Our model is grounded in established economic theories and gives society a clearer idea of what impacts people’s wellbeing.”

Stockholm’s quarterly index is one of the first attempts to follow and understand wellbeing at a metropolitan level with consistent data that can be compared over time and quantified in economic terms. The 600 million kronor figure is one example. If a citywide initiative increased togetherness by one step for half a million residents, the model suggests that residents would value that improvement at more than half a billion kronor in a single quarter.

The Fika Factor

The report also introduces a measure that sounds distinctly Scandinavian: the Fika Factor. Residents shared fika (a joint break with coffee or a treat) with someone 3.79 days per week in the third quarter.

While this may seem like a cultural curiosity, the report shows that fika, shared meals and even simple interactions such as greeting a neighbor explain more variation in wellbeing than income, education or employment.

This suggests that wellbeing can rise through places and routines that make it easier for people to meet and interact.

Seasonal patterns

The latest results put Stockholm’s wellbeing at 6.75 out of 10. The figure is slightly lower than the previous quarter. The research team at CWWH attributes the shift to the darker, cooler weeks of early autumn when the data was collected. The Wellbeing Equality Coefficient also moved from 14.4 to 15.2, meaning wellbeing became a little less evenly distributed across residents, something that appears to follow seasonal patterns.

Beneath the headline number, the city’s key wellbeing drivers shifted in different directions. Togetherness fell to 6.56, down from 7.09, and life balance dropped to 6.32 from 6.88. At the same time, people reported a stronger sense of agency, which rose to 6.77 from 6.52.

“We are probably seeing the familiar rhythm of September,” Micael Dahlen says. “People return to work and school, which increases their sense of control, but social connection and balance fall away. This suggests that community building and balance focused interventions matter more during early autumn.”

Download report here:

Wellbeing Index Stockholm Report Q3(in English)

Välmåendeindex Stockholm Rapport Q3(på Svenska)

The report is created together with Stockholm Business Region.