Wales

Wales pioneered a fundamentally different approach to economic measurement: the 2015 Well-being of Future Generations Act legally requires public bodies to consider long-term impacts on health, culture, environment, and community cohesion alongside GDP. The World Health Organization now spotlights Wales as a model for 'well-being economies' that value trust and social cohesion as economic assets. Yet traditional metrics tell a harder story. Wales has the second-lowest household income per capita of any UK region, unemployment reached 5.5% in late 2024 (highest in Britain), and 22% of the population lives in relative income poverty. The deindustrialization that closed coal mines and steel works in the 1980s created path dependencies that decades of EU structural funds and UK government investment failed to reverse. Cardiff Bay's regeneration shows what concentrated investment can achieve; the Valleys demonstrate how economic momentum, once lost, resists restoration. The Welsh language, spoken by about 29% of the population, represents a niche differentiation that tourism and cultural industries increasingly monetize. Devolution since 1999 gave Wales its Senedd (parliament), but with weaker powers than Scotland's—no control over justice, policing, or most taxation. The 2024 Wales Economic and Fiscal Report notes the economy performs 'similarly to the wider UK economy,' which given Wales's structural disadvantages represents either resilience or stagnation depending on perspective. By 2026, whether Wales's well-being approach delivers measurable improvements in health and social outcomes will determine if the model spreads or remains a legislative experiment.