Background
The conventional approach to measuring quality of life was centred on the use of income measures such as GDP. There has, however, been growing acceptance of the limitations of this approach and of the need for a more multifaceted measure of quality of life. For example, the Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress states, “[t]he emphasis should be shifted from measuring economic production to measuring people’s wellbeing” (Stiglitz et al. 2009:12). People’s wellbeing reaches much wider than income and includes multiple dimensions, such as health, education, housing and social relationships.