OECD aims to measure happiness

BEIJING - A new approach is being taken to measure social progress with the launch of the OECD Better Life Initiative, which kicked off the OECD's 50th Anniversary Week on Tuesday.

Your Better Life Index, an online interactive tool, allows people to compare their lives across 34 of the world's most industrialized countries in a way that goes beyond GDP numbers, dealing with the question of how to define "happiness".

The index, available at oecd.org/betterlifeindex starting on Tuesday, has 11 categories - housing, income, jobs, community, education, environment, governance, health, life satisfaction, safety and work-life balance, according to the OECD website.