The importance of well-being dimensions for citizens
Istat asked a sample of 45,000 residents in Italy to assign a score between 0 and 10 to a list of 15 topics corresponding to as many dimensions of well-being.
According to citizens all surveyed topics are important and contribute nearly equally to the country's well-being. The opinions expressed by respondents appeared fairly homogeneous with very few differences in gender, age, educational level and region.
All topics were rated high: the average value varied between 9.7 assigned to health and 7.1 to participation in community life.
Good health turned out the most important condition for individual well-being. As many as 79.9% of people aged 14 and over assigned this topic a score of 10.
Securing a future for children ranked in second place (average score: 9.3; scores of 10 were 66.1%). For citizens it is very important to give future generations the same level of well-being as we enjoy today. Present and future environmental concerns are also relevant (8.9). These two dimensions refer to the problem of financial sustainability and environmental and social impact of current lifestyle.
Two related dimensions, a decent job (9.2) and an adequate income (9.1) ranked third and fourth, respectively (with 59.5% and 56% of scores 10).
Interpersonal relations also turned out to be determinants of our well-being: keeping good relations with family and friends received an average score of 9.1 followed by being happy in love (9.0).
Personal security and confidence emerged as core elements: feeling safe from crime was assigned an average score of 9, slightly over the possibility to trust the others (8.9).
The political and social participation is considered less significant, with average scores below 8 both for the opportunity to influence decisions of national and local authorities, and for participation in the life of the local community. In particular, they received few scores of 10: 30.6% and 18.7% respectively.