The 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being
An overview
The 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being will take place over three days in Rome on the 4th to the 6th November 2024. As with previous OECD World Forums, it will be an in-person gathering of policy makers, statisticians, academics, and experts from the private sector, civil society and other sectors – coming together to advance societal action centred on equitable and sustainable well-being.Through a mixture of high-level panels, parallel sessions, technical workshops, and interactive discussions, the Forum will provide maximum opportunities for participants to acquire actionable knowledge, make new connections, and together drive forward the international agenda on well-being.
The focus: Strengthening Well-being Approaches in a Changing World
This 7th edition of the OECD World Forum will emphasise the need to centre people’s well-being across all areas of public policy and all forms of societal action to successfully navigate the complex transitions facing today’s economies and societies. Climate change, demographic shifts, and technological innovation are just some of the major transformations shaping every aspect of the way people live, and the way governments, businesses and other organisations operate. Decision-making in this context has to take into account a complex interplay of economic, social and environmental factors, both in the short-term and the long-term, while reducing negative impacts on inequalities and vulnerable groups. Well-being approaches - grounded in multidimensional, people-focused evidence and frameworks - help provide a more systemic and comprehensive view of what matters for people’s lives and inequalities, today and into the future. They transcend policy silos and narrow sectoral perspectives, fostering more joined-up ways of thinking, and more collaborative solutions across governments and across societies. A system-level view of well-being drivers and impacts can improve foresight and planning help monitor the effects of specific policies and clarify trade-offs and positive synergies across different policy areas and different sectors of society. More than ever, such well-being approaches are needed to jointly assess and address the social, economic, and environmental aspects of major societal challenges, and help ensure that necessary transitions – to greener economies, and to more digitalised, and ageing societies – are fair, just, and inclusive.This is important not only for strengthening evidence-based policy making but also for supporting the political and public acceptance of necessary reforms, and building more cohesive and resilient societies that can not only survive, but thrive, in a rapidly changing world.
A key moment for the international well-being agenda
The 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being will take place at a key moment for taking stock of several relevant international endeavours. Since the 6th OECD World Forum, held in Incheon in 2018, the challenges for achieving sustainable, inclusive well-being for all have become more complex in many ways, but there are also new opportunities signalled in the rising interest in well-being metrics and policy approaches at the national and international level, and in renewed commitments to advance on Sustainable Development Goals with ambition and pace (to be addressed at the planned September 2024 Summit for the Future). Notably, the 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being will be part of the activities of the 2024 Italian Presidency of the G7, connecting with G7 discussions on the policy use of multidimensional well-being indicators that began under the Japanese Presidency in 2023. It will also mark the 20th anniversary of the 1st OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, held in Palermo in 2004. Over the last two decades, the Forums have helped to spur action across multiple domains – policy, statistics, research, business, philanthropy, and civil society – playing a pivotal role in the ‘Beyond GDP’ movement, and building evidence and know-how to put people’s well-being at the heart of measurement, policy and practice. The Forum will be an essential gathering to advance the ongoing paradigm shift to centre policies and collective action on inclusive, sustainable well-being.
The 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being
An overview
The 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being will take place over three days in Rome on the 4th to the 6th November 2024. As with previous OECD World Forums, it will be an in-person gathering of policy makers, statisticians, academics, and experts from the private sector, civil society and other sectors – coming together to advance societal action centred on equitable and sustainable well-being.Through a mixture of high-level panels, parallel sessions, technical workshops, and interactive discussions, the Forum will provide maximum opportunities for participants to acquire actionable knowledge, make new connections, and together drive forward the international agenda on well-being.
The focus: Strengthening Well-being Approaches in a Changing World
This 7th edition of the OECD World Forum will emphasise the need to centre people’s well-being across all areas of public policy and all forms of societal action to successfully navigate the complex transitions facing today’s economies and societies. Climate change, demographic shifts, and technological innovation are just some of the major transformations shaping every aspect of the way people live, and the way governments, businesses and other organisations operate. Decision-making in this context has to take into account a complex interplay of economic, social and environmental factors, both in the short-term and the long-term, while reducing negative impacts on inequalities and vulnerable groups. Well-being approaches - grounded in multidimensional, people-focused evidence and frameworks - help provide a more systemic and comprehensive view of what matters for people’s lives and inequalities, today and into the future. They transcend policy silos and narrow sectoral perspectives, fostering more joined-up ways of thinking, and more collaborative solutions across governments and across societies. A system-level view of well-being drivers and impacts can improve foresight and planning help monitor the effects of specific policies and clarify trade-offs and positive synergies across different policy areas and different sectors of society. More than ever, such well-being approaches are needed to jointly assess and address the social, economic, and environmental aspects of major societal challenges, and help ensure that necessary transitions – to greener economies, and to more digitalised, and ageing societies – are fair, just, and inclusive.This is important not only for strengthening evidence-based policy making but also for supporting the political and public acceptance of necessary reforms, and building more cohesive and resilient societies that can not only survive, but thrive, in a rapidly changing world.
A key moment for the international well-being agenda
The 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being will take place at a key moment for taking stock of several relevant international endeavours. Since the 6th OECD World Forum, held in Incheon in 2018, the challenges for achieving sustainable, inclusive well-being for all have become more complex in many ways, but there are also new opportunities signalled in the rising interest in well-being metrics and policy approaches at the national and international level, and in renewed commitments to advance on Sustainable Development Goals with ambition and pace (to be addressed at the planned September 2024 Summit for the Future). Notably, the 7th OECD World Forum on Well-being will be part of the activities of the 2024 Italian Presidency of the G7, connecting with G7 discussions on the policy use of multidimensional well-being indicators that began under the Japanese Presidency in 2023. It will also mark the 20th anniversary of the 1st OECD World Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy, held in Palermo in 2004. Over the last two decades, the Forums have helped to spur action across multiple domains – policy, statistics, research, business, philanthropy, and civil society – playing a pivotal role in the ‘Beyond GDP’ movement, and building evidence and know-how to put people’s well-being at the heart of measurement, policy and practice. The Forum will be an essential gathering to advance the ongoing paradigm shift to centre policies and collective action on inclusive, sustainable well-being.