Social Well-Being in Northern Ireland: A Longitudinal Study 1958-1998

This paper examines the question of how social well-being, or quality of life, in Northern Ireland has changed through time from 1958 to 1998. After reviewing major economic trends and governmental policy affecting the region, we develop an overall measure of quality of life based on previous research into social well-being in Northern Ireland. We find that the 'Troubles' clearly impact the quality of life in Northern Ireland but not necessarily as broadly as one might suspect. The majority of the sixteen underlying indicators used for creating a measure of social well-being remain largely unaffected by the conflict and closely track increases in overall United Kingdom Gross Domestic Product. The remaining five measures of social well-being are significantly impacted by the conflict. The resulting measures of social well-being and some suggested uses for future research are then presented.