Governments make efforts to measure citizens’ wellbeing, and the indicators are constantly evaluated. Evidence across the social and medical sciences shows that pain is a socioeconomic, psychosocial and behavioural phenomenon. Governments should incorporate the systematic measurement of pain into metrics of wellbeing.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$119.00 per year
only $9.92 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Easterlin, R. A., & O’Connor, K. J. in Handbook of Labor, Human Resources And Population Economics (ed. Zimmermann, K. F.) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_184-2 (Springer Nature, 2022).
Bishop, M. The Good Life: Unifying The Philosophy And Psychology Of Well-Being (Oxford Univ. Press, 2015).
Macchia, L. Econ. Hum/ Biol. 47, 101200 (2022).
McNamee, P. & Mendolia, S. Soc. Sci. Med. 121, 65–73 (2014).
Chou, E. Y., Parmar, B. L. & Galinsky, A. D. Psychol. Sci. 27, 443–454 (2016).
Case, A., Deaton, A. & Stone, A. A. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 117, 24785–24789 (2020).
Gaskin, D. J. & Richard, P. J. Pain 13, 715–724 (2012).
Macchia, L. & Oswald, A. J. Soc. Sci. Med. 287, 114332 (2021).
Feyer, A. M. et al. Occup. Environ. Med. 57, 116–120 (2000).
McGreal, C. American Overdose: The Opioid Tragedy In Three Acts (Public Affairs, 2018).
Glei, D. A., Stokes, A. & Weinstein, M. Soc. Sci. Med. 246, 112789 (2020).
Blanchflower, D. G. & Bryson, A. PLoS ONE 17, e0275095 (2022).
Breivik, H., Eisenberg, E. & O’Brien, T. BMC Public Health 13, 1229 (2013).
Hooker, E. A., Mallow, P. J. & Oglesby, M. M. J. Emerg. Med. 56, 344–351 (2019).
Kaiser, C. & Oswald, A. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2210412119 (2022).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The author declares no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Macchia, L. Governments should measure pain when assessing societal wellbeing. Nat Hum Behav 7, 303–305 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01539-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01539-3