WHO-5 Well-Being Index
Last reviewed
Five questions about the past two weeks, scored 0–100
The WHO-5 is a five-question measure of well-being, in use since 1998 and now one of the most widely applied well-being scales in the world. The World Health Organization holds the copyright and makes it freely available. All five statements are positively worded. It asks how often you have felt good over the past two weeks, not how bad things have been.
If you are managing a long illness, well-being is worth measuring alongside symptoms and function. It responds to different things (pacing successes, sleep, connection, uncertainty) and it changes in both directions. It takes under a minute, so it suits monthly tracking next to heavier instruments like the RAND-36 or the Fatigue Severity Scale.
Your WHO-5 score
Understanding your score
Your raw score (0–25) is multiplied by 4 to give a percentage score from 0, representing the worst imaginable well-being, to 100, representing the best. General-population averages are typically around 60–75.
A score of 50 or below is the standard threshold for reduced well-being. It is a prompt to think about what is draining you and whether support would help. A score of 28 or below indicates markedly low well-being. At that level, WHO guidance recommends discussing how you are feeling with a doctor. A change of 10 points or more between measurements is considered clinically meaningful, which makes the WHO-5 a sensitive tracking measure.
In a chronic post-viral illness, a low score can reflect the illness itself. Unrefreshing sleep and low energy pull down two of the five items directly. Keep that overlap in mind when reading your result, and mention it if you discuss the score with a clinician.
This is not a diagnosis. It reflects the well-being you have reported over two weeks. If you are struggling, tell your GP. If you ever feel unable to keep yourself safe, seek urgent help (in the UK: call 111 option 2, or 999 in an emergency).
Your results over time
Complete this again in a few weeks and the change will show here.
Symptom scores change slowly. A monthly retake is enough to see a trend.
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