Assessing Population Well-Being in Saudi Arabia: A Comprehensive National Survey Using the WHO-05 Index and...

The well-being of populations is crucial for understanding nations' public health and progress. With its ongoing transformation and development objectives, Saudi Arabia emphasizes its residents' quality of life and well-being. Recent surveys and health indicators have underlined the nation's focus on enhancing population well-being.

This study aimed to assess the overall level of well-being of the population living in Saudi Arabia using the WHO-5 index and self-rated health (SRH) metrics.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among thirty-nine thousand five hundred and sixty-two people from the general population in Saudi Arabia, citizens and residents, including all adult age groups (>18 years) and both genders. A self-administered questionnaire was sent to the Saudi adult population using an online survey. The questionnaire includes socio-demographic characteristics, the five-item Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and the self-rated health status.

Based on SRH, 77.4% were considered a healthy group. Male gender participants who had a better education were more likely to report a favorable SRH. According to WHO-5, poor well-being was seen in 26% of the population, and the rest had good well-being (74%). Independent predictors for good well-being include increasing age and educational level and being unemployed. Interestingly, we found a positive significant correlation between SRH and WHO-5 scores (r = 0.371; p < 0.001).

Poor well-being was common among the general population. Independent risk factors for poor well-being include female gender and Saudi nationality, while increasing age, male gender, and higher education were significant predictors of healthy SRH. More longitudinal studies are needed to extract more data on this nation's growing prevalence of poor self-rated health status.