The leaders of three Christian organisations have come out in support of controversial plans by David Cameron to measure happiness in the UK.

The Prime Minister expressed his intention this week to measure “general wellbeing” alongside economic success as an indicator of the state of affairs in the UK. It is expected that the happiness index will be used to guide Government policy.

In a joint letter to the Guardian today, CAFOD director Chris Bain, Tearfund Chief Executive Matthew Frost and the Director of theology think tank Theos, Paul Woolley, welcomed the move, saying it was important that the Government recognise that economic growth is not the only driver towards human fulfilment.

“We urge the UK government to take a global lead and go further than just measuring the happiness of those in this country by bringing in policies that support the sustainable economic activities of the world’s poorest,” they said.

“If we are truly to flourish, we must all work to shape a new, fair and accountable market system that puts people and our environment right at its right.”

In their recently published joint report, Wholly Living, the three organisations warned that economic recovery would be incomplete so long as individualism and self-interest remained at its heart.

They argued that it was time to look beyond material indicators of wellbeing to an “inclusive” economic system “that improves the quality of our relationships and embeds the practice of virtue in its intellectual and religious forms”.

The report, out last month, argues that politics is about more than economics and that “life is about more than quarterly growth figures”.

It says: “Flourishing as a human being is, thus, not simply a matter of respecting people’s choice and maximising their purchasing power. Rather, it demands that we recognise, respect and try to realise everyone’s capacity for creativity, productivity, responsibility and generosity.”