THE METHODOLOGY OF MEASUREMENT OF OBJECTIVE WELL-BEING IN MUNICIPALITIES: CASE OF LATVIA

Well-being has always been a topical concept, there had been developed different methodologies how to evaluate it emphasizing objective or/and subjective features of the well-being concept. The objective features of well-being has been under investigation of economists as measuring of objective well-being would provide wide opportunities, e.g. to compare different administrative territories, to assess the status of well-being before and after certain activities, etc. Although nowadays municipalities are becoming more and more important regarding ensuring well-being to its citizens, traditionally the well-being is being evaluated at national level. The aim of the paper is to develop and approbate research methodology for measurement of objective well-being at local level. Methodology used: a survey of experts, standardization of empirical statistical data, analysis and comparisons of empirical statistical data. Main results and findings of the paper: there has been elaborated and approbated the objective well-being index for municipalities taking into account different features of well-being which could be widely used in decision making processes. In addition there has been identified possible opportunities where to use developed index in Latvia.