http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2004/02/25/000265513_20040225104838/Rendered/PDF/wdr27903.pdf

"...This paper is about measuring social well-being and evaluating policy. Part I is concerned with the links between the two, while Parts II and III, respectively, are devoted to the development of appropriate methods of measuring and evaluating. In Part II (Sections 4-7) I identify a minimal set of indices for spanning a general conception of social well being. The analysis is motivated by the frequent need to make welfare comparisons across time and communities. A distinction is drawn between current well being and sustainable well being. Measuring current well being is the subject of discussion in Sections 5-6. It is agreed that a set of five indices, consisting of private consumption per head, life expectance at birth, literacy, and indices o civil and political liberties, taken together, are a reasonable approximation for the purpose in hand..."