Recession-weary Britons get a dose of happiness index

London: Asking voters how happy they are just as you're instigating the biggest public spending cuts in decades seems like a risky venture.

But that's just what British Prime Minister David Cameron is doing as part of a pledge to improve Britons' lives beyond pure financial gain in the wake of the global recession.

The government's National Statistics Office will this year begin measuring the nation's well-being and yesterday it released details from its initial consultations on what the new index should measure — and how it should be measured. Job security, relationships with families and good health topped the preliminary list of indicators that Britons believe are most important.

Apparently stung into action by a recent poll that ranked Britons as just 13th among 22 European nations in terms of life satisfaction, Cameron ordered his government to find ways to make everyone happier.

The British leader is anxious to "start measuring our progress as a country, not just by how our economy is growing, but by how our lives are improving not just by our standard of living, but by our quality of life."

He preemptively defended his decision to spend some £2 million (Dh11.39 million) on developing the well-being index.

Struggles

Britons are faced with £80 billion of public spending cuts by the centre-right Conservative-led coalition as it struggles to get the country's massive budget deficit under control.

"In general, I would support the idea that governments support the idea of a measure of a nation's well-being that goes beyond income," said David Bartram, a sociologist at the University of Leicester. "But I don't think they really get it."

Critics say it's no coincidence that Cameron is trying to appear more in touch with Britons' everyday desires at a time he is imposing the greatest cuts by any administration since the Second World War.