A new report from the EU-funded BENEFITS project (Building Economic, Needs-Based and Environmental Evaluation Frameworks for Inclusive Transformation of Social Services in Europe) highlights a fundamental problem in how progress and wellbeing are measured in Europe and beyond. Social services remain largely invisible, even in frameworks designed to go “beyond GDP”, a measure that go beyond economic growth (GDP) to assess how well people are actually living.

Key findings of the report

The report, Meta-Analysis of Existing Indicators reviews 66 major wellbeing, sustainability and social progress frameworks currently used by governments and international organisations.

The analysis shows that most existing indicators focus on areas such as health (92%), knowledge and skills (89%), and material wellbeing (85%).

However, several domains crucial to social services receive far less attention, despite being central to people’s wellbeing. For example, care services are included in only 20% of indicators, despite their essential role in supporting children, persons with disabilities and older people. Coordination between services, crucial for people with complex or multiple needs, appears in fewer than 11% of frameworks, while prevention and early intervention are almost entirely absent, featuring in around 6%.

Its conclusion is clear: while health, education and income are widely measured, the services that enable people to live independently, participate in society and achieve overall wellbeing are consistently underrepresented.

Why this matters for disability and social services

Social services, including disability support, long-term care, social care, housing support and community-based services, are essential to inclusion, autonomy and quality of life. Yet the analysis shows that care services appear in only one in five indicator frameworks out of the 66 previously mentioned, and service integration, which is critical for people with complex needs, is almost entirely missing.

Equally striking is the near absence of prevention and early intervention, despite strong evidence that these approaches improve outcomes and reduce long-term costs. When services are not measured, they are less likely to be prioritised in policy, funding and reform processes.

For organisations working in the disability field, this measurement gap has real consequences. If wellbeing frameworks do not capture accessibility, service quality, user experience or equity, they fail to reflect the lived reality of people with disabilities and their families.

Towards more inclusive measurement

BENEFITS responds to those gaps by proposing a more inclusive approach that places social services at the centre of evaluation, combining economic assessment with qualitative, participatory and equity-focused methods. This is essential for capturing what matters most to service users, including persons with disabilities.

Read the full report here.