WHO-5 Well-Being Index
Also known as: WHO-5
The WHO-5 is a 5-item screening instrument measuring current well-being over the past two weeks. Developed by the World Health Organization in 1998, it assesses positive mental health states and is widely used in both research and clinical practice to identify individuals at risk for depression. Its brevity, validity, and cross-cultural acceptance make it a standard tool in primary care and epidemiological surveys worldwide.
Key highlights
- Extremely brief (5 items, <2 minutes) makes it feasible for high-volume screening in busy clinical settings
- Strong discriminant validity for detecting depression risk; WHO-5 <50 has been validated as a depression screening cutoff
- Excellent cross-cultural performance with translation into 30+ languages; demonstrates measurement equivalence across nations
- Free and in the public domain; no licensing costs or permissions required
- Captures positive well-being rather than symptom absence, aligning with modern positive psychology frameworks
Intuition
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How it works
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When to use it
Primary care settings as a depression screening instrument; epidemiological surveys and population health monitoring; research on quality of life and mental health outcomes; clinical trials measuring changes in well-being. Particularly valuable in resource-limited settings due to its brevity and ease of administration. Suitable for adults across diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.
Strengths & limitations
- Extremely brief (5 items, <2 minutes) makes it feasible for high-volume screening in busy clinical settings
- Strong discriminant validity for detecting depression risk; WHO-5 <50 has been validated as a depression screening cutoff
- Excellent cross-cultural performance with translation into 30+ languages; demonstrates measurement equivalence across nations
- Free and in the public domain; no licensing costs or permissions required
- Captures positive well-being rather than symptom absence, aligning with modern positive psychology frameworks
- Not a diagnostic instrument; low WHO-5 scores indicate possible risk but do not confirm depression diagnosis
- Limited subscale structure (single dimension) offers no insight into components of well-being
- Item wording is retrospective (past 2 weeks) and may be affected by recent life events or mood cycles
- Susceptible to social desirability bias in settings where mental health may carry stigma
- Performs less well at detecting milder depressive symptoms compared to longer instruments
Common pitfalls
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Applications
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Frequently asked
What is the clinical significance of a WHO-5 score below 50?
A score below 50 indicates the respondent may be experiencing reduced well-being and should be considered at risk for depression. This threshold should trigger further clinical evaluation using a validated diagnostic instrument (e.g., PHQ-9 or diagnostic interview), but it is not itself diagnostic of depression.
How is the raw score converted to the 0–100 scale?
Raw sum (0–25) is multiplied by 4, yielding a 0–100 score. This transformation standardizes the WHO-5 across different reporting formats and facilitates comparison with other 0–100 quality-of-life measures.
Can the WHO-5 be used in children or adolescents?
The WHO-5 has been validated in adolescents (typically age 12+), though most normative data come from adult populations. Versions adapted for younger children exist in some languages but have less extensive validation. Always consult age-specific normative data for your population.
Is the WHO-5 free to use and reproduce?
Yes. The WHO-5 is in the public domain and free for use in research, clinical practice, and translation into other languages without requiring permission or payment.
Sources
- 1.World Health Organization (1998). Wellbeing measures in primary health care: the DepCare project. WHO regional publications European series, 69.
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Cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 3). WHO-5 Well-Being Index. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/positive-psychology/who-5-wellbeing-index