Archived press release

New report shows steady decline in wellbeing in UK since 1979

7 April 1997

New report shows steady decline in well-being in UK since 1979

Quality of life in Britain has declined since 1979, according to a new report published today by the New Economics Foundation and Friends of the Earth.

The report draws on detailed calculations carried out by a team of researchers at the Centre for Environmental Strategy in the University of Surrey to integrate economic, environmental and social factors into a single Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW).

The study suggests that the UK has now passed a critical threshold beyond which the impact of growth on quality of life outweighs the benefits of growth itself. The authors challenge party leaders, who have given manifesto commitments to raise economic growth, to concentrate instead on reversing the decline in quality of life. Tackling social inequality, ill-health and
environmental damage are priority areas.

The results of the study, assessing the British economy from 1950- 1996, show that:

• Per capita GDP is 2.5 times greater in real terms in 1996 than it was in 1950, with an average year on year growth rate of 2 per cent.
  
• In contrast there is far lower overall growth in sustainable economic welfare over the period (an average of just 0.6 per cent a year).
  
• The difference between GDP and ISEW is particularly marked from the late-1970s onwards.
  
• Between 1950 and 1980, ISEW rises broadly in line with GDP per capita. However, since then GDP has increased by over a third, whereas ISEW has actually fallen - by around 20%.
  
• Over the last six years, per capita ISEW has declined at an average rate of almost 1.3 per cent a year (compared to per capita GDP growth of 1.1 per cent).
  
• Two key drivers are record social inequality and environmental damage. However the overall costs of a range of social and environmental factors have contributed to the decline.
  

North Sea Oil has contributed a disguised subsidy of 734 billion since 1975 which should have been accounted for as a loss of capital. Over the last five years, this has averaged 50.4 billion annually - around five times what is spent on social security for unemployment.

"Growth is leading Britain up the garden path. We need a radical change of economic paradigm, in order to improve people s direct quality of life", says Ed Mayo, Director of New Economics Foundation.

Says Charles Secrett, Director of Friends of the Earth, "John Major and Tony Blair are still competing over who will achieve the fastest growth. This is a race to nowhere. They should be competing over whose party will do the most to improve our quality of life. "

"The updated index is an urgent wake-up call to politicians of every party ", says Tim Jackson, leader of the ISEW research team at the Centre for Environmental Strategy. "It is vital for the next government to engage whole-heartedly in this debate ."

"New indicators such as the ISEW go to the heart of how we measure the success of politicians, economists and society. If we ask the wrong questions, we will continue to get the wrong answers", says Ed Mayo of the New Economics Foundation.

ENDS

Copies are available from New Economics Foundation (NEF), 1st Floor, 112-116
Whitechapel Rd., London, E1 1JE.

Contacts:
Ed Mayo/Alex MacGillivray, New Economics Foundation: 020 7377 5696
Friends of the Earth Press Office: 020 7566 1649
[Index]

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust