National Estimates of Subjective Wellbeing in the UK Using the Personal Wellbeing Index

This paper presents the first estimates of subjective wellbeing in the UK population using the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) on a probability sample. The PWI’s generality and simplicity make it a promising tool for measuring subjective wellbeing (SWB) cross-culturally and among sub-groups. We used a mixed online and phone survey of a weighted probability sample of 2067 participants to estimate the mean PWI scores in the UK. The findings confirmed the PWI’s psychometric properties. The mean PWI was 68.66 percentage points (pp). The score was lower than other western industrialised countries and just outside the range predicted by the homeostatic theory of SWB. The relatively low score was partly due to low mean scores in domains that failed to contribute much unique variance, so we recommend use of a short-form version of the PWI in the UK. The mean PWI score, even in a short form version, however, was low largely because the achieving in life domain was relatively low. A range of sub-group differences in mean PWI scores were explored. There were few differences by geography, gender and ethnicity. Significant differences by age, socioeconomic status, relationship status, autistic spectrum disorder and disability were identified. The mean PWI scores for both the entire sample and by sub-groups were consistent with mean general life satisfaction scores but with the advantage that differences by domains could be identified. The findings give researchers using the PWI in the UK normative scores they can use to benchmarks their findings against.