¹McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Correspondence: John Wiseman, Director, McCaughey Centre: VicHealth Centre for the Promotion of Mental Health and Community Wellbeing, School of Population Health, The University of Melbourne, 3010 Australia. E-mail: jwiseman@unimelb.edu.au

Abstract

This essay explores the changing nature of the concept of community wellbeing and the richness of the concept for enhancing measurement of societal progress beyond the use of indicators focused more narrowly on economic growth. Beginning with the history of the concept of wellbeing in several disciplines, the authors pursue an integrated and ecological understanding of community wellbeing and present examples of recent developments and applications of community wellbeing indicators in international settings and in Australia.