Measuring subjective wellbeing: Findings from Assam wellbeing survey 2013-14

Systematising subjective wellbeing, in the context of the human development approach, has been articulated by the Bhutan system of "Gross National Happiness (GNH)". In this chapter, the authors focus on the measurement of human wellbeing through a multi-dimensional index adapted from the GNH, which they call a 'Wellbeing Index'. Exercises for measuring subjective wellbeing in other states/countries are worth undertaking, even if based on a smaller representative sample, because they would come up with a contextualised variety of questions on which wellbeing measures could be based. According to the census conducted in 2011, the Northeast Indian state of Assam has a population of 31,169,272. Eighty-six percent of households in Assam are in rural areas, and 14 percent are in urban areas. In Assam, policy-making and resource allocations are, and should continue to be, targeted on such dimensions of progress. The challenge that Assam shares with other Indian states is to reflect the true quality-of-life improvements.