Country deep dive on the wellbeing economy: Iceland

The WHO Regional Office for Europe’s series of deep dives are part of the technical documentation supporting the WHO European Regional High-level Forum on Health in the Well-being Economy (‎1–2 March 2023)‎. Each publication in the series is developed by combining academic and grey literature with narratives from semi-structured interviews conducted with key stakeholders in government and public health institutions, with the aim to demonstrate concrete country experiences in advancing and implementing wellbeing economies.

This deep dive focuses on the Icelandic approach. It gives context for Iceland’s commitment to the wellbeing economy agenda, and identifies key concepts and strategies, governance structures and mechanisms, the role of (‎public)‎ health, and approaches to measuring and monitoring progress. It highlights both the drivers and barriers Iceland has encountered on the path towards a wellbeing economy. While Iceland’s experience is not representative or all encompassing, countries that are considering or in the process of shifting to a wellbeing economy can look at these key findings and take-home policy messages for inspiration.

Read the full report here.