Ranking well-being in the European Union

This article provides a multi-dimensional index for evaluating well- being in the EU. It begins with an overview of an analytical approach that goes beyond utilitarianism: Dasgupta’s quality of life framework, which is defined according to the goals of EU policies and based on a set of indicators that are both constituents and determinants of well-being. This framework is then used to draw up an index, based on a Borda ranking, of the EU member countries in terms of their economic and social well-being. This is followed by discussion of the correlation between the ranking and the indicators selected.