Proposal for Social Well-being Studies in Asia : A Challenge beyond GDP

Social sciences have a mission to respond to social requests to treat problems and make policies for resolving them. If well-being, which is of subjective nature for individuals, is viewed at societal level, required measures could be worked out. For this, we need surveys to define the social well-being of people and subjective well-being through qualitative and quantitative approaches. Since the mid-twentieth century, GDP has been accepted worldwide as an effective measure for evaluating social and economic situations and performances. Although, it is a convenient measure even for global comparisons, it is a very narrow index for evaluating social well-being. Since 2009, we have conducted common surveys in eight Asian countries to analyze the national character of these regions. Although, several worldwide surveys have been since 2000, most of them were managed by Western organizations. Some surveys need to be conducted in Asian regions to identify their uniqueness and compare it with global standards. A research consortium, comprising organizations and universities from eight Asian countries and regions, was formed in 2014. It has planned to conduct the next common survey in Asian regions to find subjective and social well-being through field-work which can be a useful reference for formulating policies.