The theme of the report is wellbeing policy. We explore how Stockholmers believe wellbeing should be prioritized and budgeted for in politics and society, and what effects they expect such prioritization to have.

We develop a unique measure of the productivity impact of increased wellbeing, the Wellbeing Productivity Effect (WPE).

In addition, we analyze residents’ open-ended responses regarding how decision-makers in Stockholm could provide them with greater opportunities to influence their own wellbeing, what they themselves could do to improve the wellbeing of other Stockholm residents, and what their first initiative would be if they were the “Mayor of Happiness and Wellbeing” in Stockholm.

We also examine illbeing as a parallel component alongside wellbeing in residents’ overall psychological health.

Here are some teasers from the report:

• The Wellbeing Index stands at 6.76 out of 10, at the same level as the previous quarter.
• Stockholmers say that, on average, 21% of the public budget should be allocated to increasing residents’ wellbeing.
• Wellbeing also remains relatively evenly distributed across residents. Stockholm’s Wellbeing Equality Coefficient (WEC) is 15.4 (0 = total equality).
• When asked to allocate resources, residents’ preferences also imply a long-term target wellbeing level of around 8 out of 10 for Stockholm.
• The report further introduces the Wellbeing Productivity Effect (WPE): residents’ expected productivity gain from moving one step up on the wellbeing scale. The expected increase is about 25%, which corresponds to an estimated value of approximately 500 billion SEK when related to Stockholm’s gross regional product.
• Q4 also introduces a clearer look at what the report calls illbeing — a separate component of mental health that can exist alongside wellbeing. Illbeing is measured through stress & worry and low mood, combined into an Illbeing Index of 4.86 out of 10.

Download the report here:

Välmåendeindex Stockholm Q4 (In Swedish)