Wellbeing and policy in Malta - doing well ; feeling good?

Abstract

Notwithstanding its inherent vulnerabilities, Malta, a small Mediterranean island, has undergone rapid development over its 60 years of independence. Now a fully-fledged EU member state, it ranks among the world’s top performers on the Human Development Index. But reviewing Malta’s performance on some Subjective Wellbeing accounts suggests that Malta’s “doing well” by traditional metrics may not necessarily translate into people “feeling good”. A closer look at indicators and research on the determinants of wellbeing in Malta provides some insights as to why this may be so, highlighting the aspects that merit attention - including environmental quality/engagement, working conditions/time use, rapid population growth, corruption perceptions, rising inequality, schools and obesity. The chapter also outlines the efforts to measure progress beyond GDP growth, focusing on the work of the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, including its collaboration with the University of Malta. It concludes by presenting some actionable points which may be useful in other contexts, including the different insights provided by objective and subjective measures of wellbeing, the potential of international efforts to shed light on wellbeing in diverse contexts, the role of collaboration between the public sector and academic/research institutions, the role of leadership and the potential of using the momentum of the International Day of Happiness to generate media interest.