OECD report: wellbeing has increased in the past 200 years

How Was Life? Global Well-Being since 1820 (OECD)
听

People's wellbeing has increased in the past 200 years. That is one of the conclusions of the report How Was Life? Global Well-Being since 1820, presented by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on 2 October in Paris. Research leader was economic historian Prof. .

Wellbeing indicators

The How Was Life? report is the product of collaboration between the OECD, the OECD Development Centre and the CLIO-INFRA project. It represents the culmination of work by a group of economic historians to systematically chart long-term changes in the dimensions of global well-being and inequality, making use of the most recent research carried out within the discipline. The historical evidence reviewed in the report is organised around 10 different dimensions of well-being: per capita GDP, real wages, educational attainment, life expectancy, height, personal security, political institutions, environmental quality, income inequality and gender inequality. Looking at these indicators usually reveals a more equal world than the picture given by incomes alone. The new report How Was Life? presents the first systematic evidence on long-term trends in global wellbeing since 1820 for 25 major countries and 8 regions in the world covering more than 80% of the world鈥檚 population.

Institutions

The research project is closely related to the interdisciplinary theme Institutions, one of Utrecht 木瓜福利影视's four strategic themes. This area of research explores the manner in which societies derive their strength from the quality of their rules on human interaction, as embodied in institutions. These can be formal rules, such as laws, but also informal rules, such as norms, values, customs and the associated networks and organisations. They enable or constrain an open, democratic and equal society. They also determine the extent to which a society can absorb shocks and how sustainable and future-proof it is.

Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 researchers

The following economic historians (formerly) based at Utrecht 木瓜福利影视 have participated in the 'How Was Life?' project:

  • Auke Rijpma
  • Lotte van der Vleuten
  • Pim de Zwart
  • Bas van Leeuwen
  • Jieli van Leeuwen-Li
  • Richard Zijdema
  • Winny Bierman
  • Peter Foldvari
  • Katalin Buzasi
  • Kees Klein Goldewijk
  • Michail Moatsos
  • Sarah Carmichael
  • Selin Dilli

Report and data sets

More information and the full report are available on the . The Clio Infra project aims to understand the origins of worldwide inequality. The project is led by Prof. Jan Luiten van Zanden.

More information