People in the youth field—those working with and doing research related to young people, such as policymakers, funders, researchers, and practitioners—use indicators to signify what is valued and considered important enough to measure. Fortunately, many data sources exist for measuring youth well-being. However, we need to understand the biases and limitations of datasets, what assumptions they signal, and what concepts they are missing. This guide provides key questions to consider in selecting and interpreting indicators about young people. With reflection about the origins and coverage of the data, people can judge whether an indicator is fit for their purpose and if they need to augment selected indicators with other measures to provide a fuller picture of the well-being of young people.

This fact sheet is part of a series of products:

• A Review of the Domains of Well-Being for Young People: a report describing eight domains of youth well-being, including traditional and emergent approaches to measurement and notable gaps in each area.
• Five Ways to Improve How We Measure Young People’s Well-Being: a blog post outlining the cross-cutting themes from the report.
• Expanding Views of Youth Well-Being: a fact sheet presenting the eight domains of well-being and selected themes.
• Catalog of National Data Sources on Young People: a catalog of national administrative, survey, and indicator websites that provide data related to youth well-being.