Wellbeing in small island states - insights for policy-makers

Abstract

The last two decades have seen a burgeoning literature on the economics of happiness, wellbeing and quality of life. This study explores the potential of employing key lessons from the literature towards wellbeing governance in small island states. It reviews the literature on i. the main definitions of wellbeing and measurement methods, including supranational and national developments in the creation of wellbeing indices and their suitability for small island states, ii. the findings on the key determinants of wellbeing with a special focus on findings from islands and small states, and iii. the state of the art on the development of wellbeing policy and wellbeing interventions. It then presents a case study of a small Island State, Malta, where considerable strides have been made in the development of wellbeing data and policy guidance in the last five years. The analysis contrasts Malta’s performance over time by traditional accounts of material wellbeing, with performance using broader metrics of wellbeing (comprising multiple domains), as well as with subjective accounts of wellbeing (self-assessed life-evaluation and emotions), and summarises the findings from models of wellbeing estimated in the Maltese archipelago. The presentation concludes by making.