Abstract

In December 2010, the Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat), launched the project to measure Equitable and Sustainable well-being in Italy (so called Bes), building a system of indicators to provide a “beyond GDP” view, useful as an informative base for decision makers.
The Bes framework was built through a participative process, involving the scientific community, civil society and citizens, and leaded to the identification of 12 key domains of well-being, measured through 152 indicators; measurement of levels of well-being is complemented by the analysis of inequalities and socioeconomic/environmental sustainability.
During the years, the approach was further developed to take into account emerging needs, in terms of linking the production of indicators with the policy cycle at national and local level, and of deepening the granularity of indicators at a finer territorial level.
Therefore, the Italian approach for well-being measuring gradually expanded and is now based on three coordinated projects. Besides the Bes main project, aimed at updating the measuring framework and publishing a yearly national Bes Report, in 2016 a second project started with the introduction by law of 12 Bes indicators in the economic planning cycle. The law stipulates that a set of well-being indicators selected by a high-level committee must be taken into account in the economic policy process and that public policies will be regularly monitored and evaluated also through their impact on the well-being indicators. The Ministry of Economy and Finance then analyses the trend of the 12 indicators in the last three years and makes forecasts on their evolution in the following three years.
The third coordinated project, Bes indicators at local level, was set up to address the information needs of local policy makers. Istat designed a specific framework in cooperation with local governments, that are using well-being indicators for social accountability and budget planning in various ways. Within this context, since 2018, Istat annually releases a dataset and a dashboard for data visualization for 70 well-being indicators. Data are provided in time series for 107 Italian small-regions (NUTS3 level). In 2023, Istat further progressed in this area with the launch of 20 coordinated reports, one for each Italian region, which will be updated annually from now on and is now planning to deepen the statistical framework to a finer territorial detail.
The analysis of regional disparities is one of the key dimensions for measuring the equity of well-being in Italy, together with the analysis of disparities by gender, age and level of education. Istat is investing in these areas, working on comprehensive analyses that make it possible to consider disparities in well-being as a whole and the interrelationship between different factors of inequality. In addition, pathways are being developed for the establishment of frameworks for measuring well-being of specific population groups, in particular, a dedicated measurement system for children and young people.