Understanding, measuring and promoting wellbeing in Scotland

The term wellbeing can conjure up different images depending on your perspective. One consequence of this is that taking a wellbeing approach to assessing the progress of society can at first sight appear to some to be a bit 'new age' and frivolous. However, it is a much more serious endeavour, with some well-established antecedents. As David Hume wrote "The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness. For this were arts invented, sciences cultivated, laws ordained, and societies modeled, by the most profound wisdom of patriots and legislators." In a similar vein in 1913 Andrew Carnegie gave his UK Trust the remit of the "improvement of the wellbeing of the masses of the people of Great Britain and Ireland". While Frances Hutcheson was clear that "What matters is the greatest happiness for the greatest number".