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Calm toolkit / 02

WHO-5 wellbeing check

Five statements about the last two weeks, scored the way the World Health Organization's wellbeing index has been used in research for decades. Two honest minutes give you a number worth watching over time, and clear words for a conversation you may have been postponing. Your answers stay on this device.

Over the last two weeks...

  1. 1.I have felt cheerful and in good spirits
  2. 2.I have felt calm and relaxed
  3. 3.I have felt active and vigorous
  4. 4.I woke up feeling fresh and rested
  5. 5.My daily life has been filled with things that interest me
0 of 5 answered

Sources

  1. WHO-5 Well-Being Index Psychiatric Research Unit, WHO Collaborating Centre in Mental Health, Frederiksborg, 1998The instrument, reproduced verbatim; freely available for use.
  2. The WHO-5 Well-Being Index: a systematic review of the literature Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (Topp CW, Ostergaard SD, Sondergaard S, Bech P), 2015A score of 50 or below is the conventional prompt to look closer at mood.

Last reviewed: 2026-07-16

What the WHO-5 is, and is not

The WHO-5 was developed by a World Health Organization collaborating centre in 1998 and has since been used in hundreds of studies as a simple, positive measure of wellbeing. It asks only about good states: cheerfulness, calm, energy, rest and interest, which makes it gentle to take and honest about what it measures.

It is not a diagnostic test. A low score does not name a condition, and a high score does not rule one out. What the research supports is simpler: when the score sits at 50 or below, looking closer with a professional is worthwhile. Think of it as a thermometer for the last two weeks: useful for noticing, never for labelling.