In Well-being We Trust: The Nova Scotia Quality of Life Initiative

Since its invention by Simon Kuznets in the 1930s, the notion that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reflects human well-being and should guide public policy has been called into question. In the wake of the financial, political, and environmental crises that have defined the early twenty-first century—including the COVID-19 crisis—researchers and civil society are at work to redefine how we measure well-being and collective success. Commendable efforts have been made by national governments and their statistics departments, multilateral organizations like the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations, and the European Union to advance this policy agenda. While these efforts set the pace for why and what we need to dethrone GDP, the time is precipitous for actors with localized understandings of well-being to advance the global well-being agenda. The Nova Scotia Quality of Life Initiative (NSQoL) ( https://www.nsqualityoflife.ca/ ), led by Engage Nova Scotia, using the Canadian Index of Well-being (CIW) measurement tool, is a leading example of the salience of subnational initiatives in advancing global goals. In this chapter, we analyze data from the 2019 NSQoL survey to show how regional well-being exercises illustrate what matters to people locally, where quality of life can be improved, and how inequalities in well-being vary regionally. More pointedly, this regional case study argues that a trust-based approach to well-being initiatives equates to their success and sustainability in the near and long term.