The Broad Prosperity Indicators for Policymaking

Broad prosperity covers all aspects of well-being—health, safety, accessibility, social ties, and the environment—now and in the future. A key challenge is that policies often impact different groups (by income, age, gender) and well-being domains unequally. To address this, a diverse set of broad prosperity indicators is used to track and compare these effects. By making these impacts visible, indicators support more informed, transparent, and fair decisions. They guide the design of policies that balance short- and long-term goals across population groups and well-being areas.

Definition:
Broad prosperity includes everything that impacts people's lives and values, considering both current and future distribution among different groups. It covers individual and collective aspects like accessibility, safety, health, and the physical environment. The concept encompasses material, social, health, safety, social connections, living environment, and development. It's crucial to understand how policies and interventions distribute costs and benefits across various groups, using factors like income, age, gender, and car ownership.

TNO’s projects:
TNO is actively researching various well-being indicators in collaboration with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management through the Programmatic Cooperation on Well-being (PSPW), focusing on mobility and security. The Balanced Spatial Choices (BSC) project addresses the built environment, while the Healthy Living department concentrates on health. Currently, TNO's work emphasizes quantifiable indicators, but we started developing qualitative indicators as well.

Impact:
Indicators help answer questions and tell stories by providing a comprehensive view of various aspects and dimensions. Policy goals often need multiple indicators to create informed and explainable policies, especially regarding well-being. Broad prosperity includes several domains, meaning interventions or scenarios can have different effects across these domains. For example, while accessibility might improve, it could negatively impact safety, health, and the quality of the living environment. To evaluate well-being effectively, these indicators must be compared and balanced.