Plan to measure happiness ‘not woolly’ – Cameron

He admitted measuring happiness could be seen as “woolly” and “impractical”.

“You cannot capture happiness on a spreadsheet any more than you can bottle it – and if anyone was trying to reduce the whole spectrum of human happiness into one snapshot statistic I would be the first to roll my eyes.”

But he said a new measure of national well-being “could give us a general picture of whether life is improving” and eventually “lead to government policy that is more focused not just on the bottom line, but on all those things that make life worthwhile”.

He said he wanted Britain to be “in the vanguard” of efforts around the world to change the accepted measures of national progress “rather than following meekly behind”.

The Office for National Statistics will lead a debate called the National Wellbeing Project which will seek to establish the key areas that matter most to people’s wellbeing.

Potential indicators include how people view their own health, levels of education, inequalities in income and the environment.

National Statistician Jill Matheson said: “There is no shortage of numbers that could be used to construct measures of well-being, but they will only be successful if they are widely accepted and understood.

“We want to develop measures based on what people tell us matters most.”

She said questions would be added to the ONS household survey from next April – but she wanted the public to help come up with sort of questions that should be asked.

The first official measure of the nation’s well-being would be published in summer 2012, she added.

The UK government is not the first to seek better measures of progress than GDP – the World Bank, European Commission, United Nations, and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have all made the same commitment.

Trade union Unite attacked the plan as “another attempt by the coalition to pull the wool over peoples’ eyes”.

General Secretary elect Len McCluskey said: “No doubt Cameron will use the index to claim that despite rising unemployment, home repossessions, longer NHS waiting lists and unaffordable education, the people of this country are happier under Tory rule. The reality is a gathering gloom.”