The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index database contains more than 28,000 records. A parallel and derivative project, supported by both Australian Unity and the Australian Research Council, follows-up about 5,000 people on an annual basis. This information is used to form special reports and comparisons between different groups within our society.
The ongoing nature of the surveys has also revealed the extreme reliability of the data. The personal wellbeing of Australian’s can be predicted within less than one percentage point assuming that no major international event such as terrorist attack or Olympic Games occurs immediately around the survey period.
Professor Bob Cummins, author of the index, also heads the International Wellbeing Group. This involves over 100 researchers from more than 45 countries in an effort to understand personal wellbeing as reported by people from different cultural backgrounds. Through this, the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index is making a unique contribution to understanding subjective wellbeing in an international context.
In 2004, The International Society for Quality of Life Studies awarded Professor Cummins and colleagues 'Best Paper' in that society's flagship journal Social Indicators Research. This paper describes the theoretical basis for the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index, and its various findings since 2001.
The index was also a winner of the Victorian Public Health Award – Excellence in Public Health Capacity Building in 2004. This award is in recognition of identifying a public health need and building an effective function to meet that need.
Results at a glance
What is the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index?
What is ‘wellbeing’ and how does the index measure it?
Why do we measure subjective wellbeing?
Who is involved in the research?
Why has Australian Unity developed the index?
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