What is the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index?
In 2008, Gallup began measurement for the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index, merging decades of clinical research, health leadership and behavioral economics research to track and understand the key factors that drive wellbeing. The index provides an in-depth view of Americans' wellbeing and offers insights into their attitudes and behaviors at the national, state and community levels. It examines this through five interrelated elements that make up wellbeing: career (formerly known as purpose), social, financial, physical and community.
How are surveys conducted for the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index?
Beginning in January 2018, Gallup began surveying U.S. adults aged 18 and older living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia using a dual mail- and web-based methodology. Gallup samples individuals using an address-based sampling (ABS) frame, which is a representative list of all U.S. households. In their survey invitation, sample members are provided with a mail survey and a link and unique access code if they would prefer to complete the survey online. Gallup purchases samples for this study from Survey Sampling International. Gallup chooses respondents at random within each household based on which member has the next birthday. Gallup includes Spanish-language surveys and related materials for households that have a high likelihood of including a Spanish-language speaker, based on U.S. Census records.
Since 2020, Gallup has administered web-based surveys to the Gallup Panel, a probability-based panel of about 100,000 adults across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Tests of parallel samples have yielded highly convergent estimates between ABS mail/web and the Panel for wellbeing metrics.
Before 2018, Gallup used a phone-based dual-frame design, which included both landline and cellphone numbers. Gallup sampled landline and cellphone numbers using random-digit-dial methods and conducted interviews in Spanish for respondents who were primarily Spanish-speaking.
Because the means of data collection (mail/web versus phone) can result in differing estimates for some metrics in randomized nationwide polling, Gallup typically does not extend trend lines derived from different modes of data collection.
How often are Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index surveys conducted?
Gallup surveys approximately 5,000 U.S. adults aged 18 and older each quarter. More than 3 million surveys have been conducted since 2008.
Are the national samples weighted?
Yes, Gallup weights samples to correct for nonresponse. Gallup also weights its final samples to match the U.S. population according to gender, age, race, Hispanic ethnicity, education, region and population density. Demographic weighting targets for the U.S. and for individual states are based on the most recent Current Population Survey figures for the aged 18 and older U.S. population, while weighting targets for metropolitan areas are based on Nielsen Claritas statistics. Population density targets are based on the most recent U.S. Census. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.
Where can I find results from the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index and learn more about the survey?
Gallup reports findings from the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index on News.Gallup.com. Sign up for Gallup News alerts to get these articles as soon as they are published. For questions about how this survey is conducted, please contact galluphelp@gallup.com.
To get the full trends for U.S. wellbeing data collected through the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index, subscribe to Gallup Analytics.