Abstract

The National Population and Family Development Board (NPFDB) had developed the Malaysian Family Well-Being Index (MFWBI) to measure the well-being of the family in the country. The MFWBI measures the level of family well-being by using a subjective measurement particularly through a household’s assessment given by the parents. The well-being was assessed through eight domains identified, namely, the Family Relationship Domain, Family Economy Domain, Family Health Domain, Family and Community Engagement Domain, Role of Religion and Spiritual Practices Domain, Housing and Environment Domain, and Family and Communication Technology Domain. The index recorded in the latest series of MFWBI 2022 was 7.93 out of a maximum score of 10. The objective of this study is to integrate the use of objective measurement in measuring the well-being of families. The data used in this study includes the MFWBI 2022 data and the state-level administrative data from several sources including the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the Ministry of National Unity, the Royal Malaysia Police, and the Ministry of Communication and Digital Malaysia. During analysis, the z-score normalization method was used to make data from different sources with different units of measurements are comparable. Composite scoring of subjective and objective data found a decline in the family well-being index score as compared to those reported in the MFWBI 2022 which used the subjective data alone. However, this study suggests the use of this new composite scoring technique to get a more accurate, robust and reliable score as compared to the conventional scoring.