Wellbeing economy governments partnership: annual engagement report

5. Other activity

5.1 7^th OECD World Forum on Well-being In-Person Meeting (5 November 2024)

WEGo officials met in person during the OECD Forum in Rome to reflect on national wellbeing economy developments and discuss future plans for the partnership. The meeting marked six years since WEGo’s launch and highlighted its evolution, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2023 – 2024 Annual Engagement Report was positively received, and members agreed to continue publishing it annually. Country updates included

• Scotland’s progress in Community Wealth Building legislation and collaboration with the OECD on gender budgeting and with WHO on health-economy links
• Iceland’s development of a comprehensive policy proposal with five key actions, including wellbeing budgeting integration and biannual status reports, supported by cross-ministerial collaboration.
• Canada’s work on embedding Quality-of-Life outcomes into budget and expenditure reviews
• Wales’s preparation of a 10-year review of the Future Generations Act, with a focus on evaluating impact and updating indicators
• Finland’s implementation of its 2023–2025 Economy of Wellbeing action plan, with civil society and regional engagement
• New Zealand’s advancements in a social investment approach, with increased funding and a new central agency. Existing wellbeing work continues, with a renewed focus on indigenous and intergenerational wellbeing

5.2 Brussels WEGo Roundtable (5 June 2025)

The WEGo Roundtable in Brussels, co-hosted by the Welsh and Scottish Governments, convened WEGo partners and EU stakeholders to explore how Wellbeing Economy frameworks can inform policy in the context of global challenges. The discussion centred on two key themes: the relationship between wellbeing and economic growth, and the influence of wellbeing framing on government policy.

Participants discussed how the Wellbeing Economy approach interacts with economic growth, particularly in light of post-COVID recovery and geopolitical uncertainty. Scotland emphasised that growth should be a means to improved prosperity, not an end in itself, with a focus on fair, green and inclusive growth. The Scottish Government also highlighted its four national priorities: sustainable economic growth, eradicating child poverty, net zero transition, and resilient public services and how they are inter-linked.

Wales echoed this with its Future Generations Act, which embeds long-term thinking and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) alignment into governance. New Zealand stressed the importance of “good growth” that addresses societal challenges, while rejecting degrowth narratives. Finland and EU representatives called for participatory systems, regional sufficiency, and local investment to support resilient economies. The consensus was that the direction and quality of growth matter more than its pace, and that wellbeing framing can guide investment toward inclusive and sustainable outcomes.

The WEGo members also explored how wellbeing principles influence policy design and delivery. Wales shared its experience using national wellbeing indicators and health institutions to address inequalities, while acknowledging challenges such as resource constraints and rural-urban disparities. Finland described its strategic governance model, aligned with the SDGs, and its efforts to embed wellbeing across national and local levels. Participants discussed the role of local government, the need for budgetary support, and the importance of data from sectors like health, education, and finance. There was broad agreement that wellbeing framing offers a compelling policy narrative, but requires robust indicators, measurable outcomes, and institutional reform to be fully effective. The roundtable concluded with reflections on the need to shift economic policy toward values like equity, environmental health, and democratic participation, and reaffirmed WEGo’s role in fostering international collaboration and policy innovation.

5.3 Wellbeing Economy and Health in Practice: WHO High-Level Policy Dialogue

Ministers and senior health and economic leaders from WEGo partner countries including Finland, Iceland, Scotland and Wales came together with WHO officials in Cardiff on 27-28 March 2025 to share how they are shifting government action and spending into prevention and improved population well-being. The two-day dialogue was hosted by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care from Welsh Government and supported by Public Health Wales.

The event aimed to unlock action and develop solutions on (i) investing in prevention and health equity, and (ii) the relationship between ill-health and people’s ability to participate in work or employment.

Participants from the four nations highlighted that societies across Europe and the globe are facing continuous crises and challenging megatrends, as well as novel solutions and new opportunities. These range from climate change to conflict, increases in the cost-of-living, ageing societies and digital advancement and transformation. All of these have major implications for people’s well-being and health inequities, and trust in institutions, and put pressure on health and welfare systems operating within limited resources. This leads to an imperative for adopting well-being economies, which place population health, equity and international solidarity at the top of global and national agendas.

The four nations all share a strategic commitment to well-being economies and a prevention-oriented vision of health is part of this commitment. The well-being economy was identified as an operating framework for government, which requires understanding of economic policies and their impacts on communities, societies and nature. It also recognises the vital importance of health and public health in driving economic prosperity and resilience, and vice-versa. Health and gender equity were recurring themes – both as priorities, and as important aspects to consider in undertaking analysis and designing well-being economy policies.

Participants recognized the importance of coherent policy frameworks, innovation and collaboration in addressing cross-sectoral priorities. Chief economists joined the dialogue, which highlighted the benefits of strengthened collaboration between health and economy policymaking and paved the way for sharing solutions and adapting these in different countries.

Following this event, Public Health Wales (PHW) organised a subsequent webinar in October titled ‘Shaping a Fairer Future: Gender, Equity, and the Well-Being Economy’ exploring well-being approaches to policies with health and equity at their core, alongside other themes such as the gender pay gap, gender budgeting, gender transformative policy making, carers and highlighting key research and data. Another event is being planned for January 2026.