At Switch Up we accompany a large number of people every year in their geographical mobility. Our Ambassadors regularly answer their questions. Based on this expertise, we have grouped these questions under 11 items. The objective is to enable newcomers to discover at a glance the strengths of a territory and its areas for improvement.
Each territory has its own particularities and fortunately we all have different desires. For some of us, the theme of education will be paramount, while for others the issue of the environment is fundamental. At Switch Up, we are convinced that there is no one territory that is better than another, but certainly one territory that suits you better than another!
The accessibility of services is one of the key dimensions of well-being. affecting people get what is needed to satisfy their wants and needs. Measuring service accessibility allows a better understanding of inequalities in communities. The theme of access to services can be very broad and includes basic services as well as advanced services: e.g. transport, water and sanitation, education, health, education for all, etc. Measuring access to services therefore has a direct impact on the population and is relevant because it reflects the opportunities available to people (Sen, 1993) and helps prioritise interventions in underserved areas.
In France, the lowest scoring region on this item is Basse Normandie and the highest is Ile de France.
INDICATOR: Access to broadband for households. All OECD data are available here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/urban-rural-and-regional-development/data/statistiques-regionales-de-l-ocde_region-data-fr
Trust in public authorities is essential for social cohesion and well-being. Today more than ever, citizens demand greater transparency from their administration. Making it clear who takes decisions, why and how is essential to hold government accountable, preserve trust in public institutions and ensure a level playing field for businesses.
In France, the region with the lowest score on this item is Corsica and the region with the highest score is Brittany.
INDICATOR: Voter turnout: Voter turnout is defined as the percentage of registered voters who voted in an election. A high voter turnout rate reflects the involvement of citizens in political life. A high turnout is desirable in a democracy because it increases the representativeness and legitimacy of institutions. All oecd data can be found here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/urban-rural-and-regional-development/data/statistiques-regionales-de-l-ocde_region-data-fr
Education plays an essential role in providing people with the knowledge, skills and competences they need to participate actively in society and economic life. In addition, it can improve people's lives in areas such as health, civic engagement, and happiness. Studies show that educated people live longer, take a more active part in political and local life, commit less crime and have less recourse to social assistance.
In France, the region with the lowest score on this item is Picardy and the one with the highest score is Brittany.
INDICATOR: Percentage of the labour force with secondary education: The labour force with at least upper secondary education is defined as the labour force aged 15 years and over who have completed at least upper secondary education, defined as ISCED level 3 by the International Standard Classification for Education. The full set of oecd data can be found here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/urban-rural-and-regional-development/data/statistiques-regionales-de-l-ocde_region-data-fr
Employment is another dimension of well-being that can have a considerable impact on people's material conditions. Moreover, having a job helps people to maintain and develop their skills and this affects other dimensions of well-being, such as health, connections and life satisfaction. Unequal access to employment is one of the main drivers of interregional inequalities.
In France, the region with the highest unemployment rate is Nord Pas de Calais and the one with the best result is Auvergne
INDICATORS: 1. the employment rate is calculated as the ratio of employed persons to
the working age population (aged 15-64) The unemployment rate is defined as the ratio of the unemployed to
the labour force, where the labour force is composed of unemployed and employed persons. All oecd data can be found here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/urban-rural-and-regional-development/data/statistiques-regionales-de-l-ocde_region-data-fr
Man is a social animal. The frequency of our contact with others and the quality of our personal relationships are therefore important determinants of our well-being. Studies show that time spent with friends is associated with a higher average level of positive feelings and a lower average level of negative feelings than time spent on other activities.
A strong social network or community can provide psychological support in good and bad times, and can also help in finding work and accessing services and other material benefits.
Having good interpersonal relationships, being able to rely on the support of social networks and building on general trust in others and institutions are seen as important sources of individual well-being and social cohesion.
Not only do these concepts represent additional resources to material and cultural resources, but they can also improve the performance of institutions and reduce transaction costs.
In France, the region with the highest score on the notion of community is Corsica and the one with the lowest is Champagne-Ardenne.
INDICATOR: Perceived support from social networks is based on the following question: "If you had a problem, do you have relatives or friends you can count on to help you when you need it or not? The data presented here reflects the percentage of the regional sample that answers "Yes". The full OECD data set can be found here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/urban-rural-and-regional-development/data/statistiques-regionales-de-l-ocde_region-data-fr
The quality of the local environment has important effects on the well-being of future generations. While for the moment only air pollution is included in this score, various aspects of environmental quality should be included (such as water, waste, facilities, etc.) in the score for the same region as they illustrate each of the essential elements of this item.
In France, exposure to air pollution is lowest in the Centre Val de Loire and highest in Alsace.
INDICATOR: Population exposure to air pollution is calculated by taking the weighted average value of PM2.5 for the grid cells present in each region, with the weight given by the population count estimate in each cell.
These estimates are made possible by the calculation of satellite observations in the OECD estimates taken from van Donkelaar, A., R.V. Martin, M. Brauer and B. L. Boys (2014) "Use of satellite observations for long-term exposure assessment of Fine Particle Concentrations", Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 123.
There are also strong regional disparities in health, which are partly explained by unequal access to health services. explained by unequal access to health services.
In France, the region with the highest life expectancy is the Rhône Alpes and the one with the lowest life expectancy is Basse Normandie
INDICATOR: Life expectancy at birth measures the number of years that a newborn child can expect to live, if mortality rates in each age group were to remain the same during his or her lifetime.
Age-adjusted mortality rates eliminate the difference in mortality rates due to the age of the population and are comparable across countries and regions. Age-adjusted death rates are calculated by applying the age-specific death rates of a region to the age distribution of a standard population. In this case, the population by five-year age group is averaged over all OECD regions. All OECD data can be found here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/urban-rural-and-regional-development/data/statistiques-regionales-de-l-ocde_region-data-fr
Personal safety is the extent to which people feel safe from harm or crime. Crime of course has a huge and often lasting direct effect on victims. However, it can also strongly affect the well-being of those who are not victims, but who live in the same community. Although subjective measures of safety are increasingly used, data availability in the OECD regions dictates the use of only objective indicators.
In France, the highest scoring region is Lower Normandy and the lowest is Corsica.
INDICATOR: Homicide rate: The homicide rate is the number of reported homicides per 100,000 population. All OECD data can be found here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/urban-rural-and-regional-development/data/statistiques-regionales-de-l-ocde_region-data-fr
In measuring well-being, housing is an important dimension. Adequate shelter is one of the most basic human needs, along with food and water. Moreover, housing costs are often the largest component of household income. Housing is also strongly related to other dimensions of well-being, such as health, income and life satisfaction (OECD, 2011). At the local and regional level, housing characteristics are also closely related to to the territorial/spatial configuration.
In France, the region with the highest number of rooms per person is Brittany and the region with the lowest number is Ile de France.
In France, the highest scoring region is Lower Normandy and the lowest is Corsica.
INDICATOR: Number of rooms per person in a dwelling. This indicator has some limitations, as it does not take into account important elements such as housing prices, the overall cost of living in the area, the type of area (whether it is a city or a less densely populated area), or the potential benefits of commercial space for the location. All oecd data can be found here: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/fr/urban-rural-and-regional-development/data/statistiques-regionales-de-l-ocde_region-data-fr
Subjective well-being reflects the notion of measuring how people live and evaluate their lives. This item includes evaluations of life as a whole (usually referred to as 'feeling satisfied'), based on evaluations of particular areas of life (e.g. 'satisfaction with time available for leisure'), feelings and emotions, as well as measures of one's sense of achievement in life. People's assessments in different domains and their expectations are useful information to guide policy making.
In France, satisfaction is highest in Corsica and lowest in Franche Comté.
INDICATOR: Satisfaction with life is expressed by the average score on an 11-point scale (based on the Cantril Scale Measure). It is measured using a survey question in which they are asked: "Please imagine a scale, with steps numbered from 0 at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the scale represents the best possible life for you and the bottom represents the worst possible life for you. On which rung of the ladder would you say you personally feel at this moment?
Money may not bring happiness, but it certainly brings a higher standard of living and therefore greater well-being. Greater resources can also facilitate access to quality education, better health services and better housing.
In France, the region with the lowest score on this item is Nord Pas de Calais and the one with the highest score is Ile de France.
INDICATOR: Private household disposable income per capita is derived from the primary balance
income by adding up all current government transfers, excluding social transfers in kind, and subtracting current transfers to households such as income taxes, regular taxes on wealth,
regular cash transfers between households and social contributions. Regional disposable household
Disposable income is expressed per capita (per person), in purchasing power parities (PPP) USD at constant prices (year 2010).
Do you want to promote your territory directly in the job ads of local companies?
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Where people live is important for their well-being. Similarly, to improve people's lives, we need to make the place where they live a better place. Regional wellbeing research thus enables decision-makers in the territories to highlight the strengths of their living area and to know where they can improve it.
Our aim at Switch Up is to highlight the real wellbeing as experienced where we live and work and not to promote national averages which can mask significant disparities.
Our tool provides information on where regions stand on eleven topics that matter to people's lives: employment, income, education, health, civic engagement, safety, access to services, environment, housing, community and sense of satisfaction.
Our tool can be used by anyone - especially non-experts and non-statisticians - to build better communities. The opportunity to help start the conversation about what matters to you for you, to provide you with data to help you better understand where we want our territories to go and build that all-important notion of Living Together
Our tool is a way to start a conversation about wellbeing based on what people know best: their home region. Choose the region you are in and find out how the region is doing on the eleven wellbeing topics. For each topic, a score on a scale of 0-10 is given to the region, based on one or more indicators.
We do not communicate on a single overall score. This bias is clear to Switch Up and is based on an important principle: there is no such thing as a good or bad region: there are just regions that are more or less in tune with the lifestyle that suits you.
An overall score made up of the different items certainly conveys a unified view but dilutes the information and does not allow the differences between territories to be highlighted. Highlighting a range of indicators rather than an overall score can be widely debated but at Switch Up we do not make a single statement about the qualities of a region. Instead, we present these strengths and areas for improvement so that each user can consider the relative importance of each topic and make their own personal assessments of these issues. personal assessments of these issues.
The data are collected by the OECD in the OECD regional database. They all come from official sources, usually national statistical offices. The exceptions are the indicators on:
