THE Southern Grampians Shire has been rated one of the highest south-west local government areas according to a wellbeing report.

The 2023 SGS Cities and Regions Wellbeing Index (CRWI) saw the Southern Grampians Shire have a combined rating of 5.02 under the dimensions of economy; income and wealth; employment, knowledge, and skills; housing; health; equality, community, and work-life balance and environment.

Wellbeing is subjective - everyone has their own perspective on life.

The CRWI has taken an objective-based approach, tracking the factors outside an individual’s control which shape the quality of life within an area, and tracks a Local Government Area’s (LGA) objective wellbeing by combining 24 indicators across the seven dimensions.

The economy sector related to the region’s economic output, productivity, and diversity, with an average gross value added of $1.221 billion for the Southern Grampians Shire giving a score of 4.15 (good).

Income and Wealth also proved a ‘good’ score for the shire, related to communities with higher incomes and greater levels of wealth to provide greater levels of security, stability and opportunities.

Some of the lower rankings for the region included employment, knowledge and skills, rated average, and health, rated poor, with an average life span of 81 for the region.

On a lighter note, Equality, Community, and Work-life Balance gave a rating of very good and ranked the Southern Grampians Shire at 136 in the country, alongside housing and environment which were rated as good.