The geography of well-being is a current of geographical thought within human geography that addresses the issue of social well-being as the object of this science and focuses on the real and everyday problems of society. It was born in the late 1960s from a liberal current that emerged from radical geography, trying to improve society within the same system. It has an applied nature and its ultimate goal is the achievement of guidelines for the transformation of society and obtaining a better quality of life.

In the 1960s, there was an interest in social issues and the distribution of wealth to which Geography is not insensitive, given that there was already research related to this subject (economic contrasts, living standards, etc.). As David Smith points out"):.

There was an effort to relate spatial preference with indicators of social well-being. Beginning in the early 1970s, jobs related to social welfare began to emerge.

Well-being geography does not renounce the use of complex research techniques such as simulations or factor analysis, representative of theoretical-quantitative geography), but it is emphasized that these methodological tools must be used to clarify social problems such as the deterioration of the environment or economic and social contrasts. However, qualitative aspects will take precedence over quantitative ones.

In short, the geography of well-being answers the questions: who? (the population investigated), what? (that which gives well-being to the population), where? (the location of problems within the study space) and how? (the causal process or mechanism that intervenes in society).

• - History of geography.

• - Social geography.

• - SMITH, David M. (1977). Human geography. Barcelona. Oikos-Tau.