Tony Blair's environment adviser has called on the government to take urgent action to improve the real quality of people's lives.

A report from the Sustainable Development Commission, headed by Jonathon Porritt, has found that quality of life has not increased in line with soaring national income over the last three decades.

It warned that the dominance of economic growth as the principal driving force in modern politics had made little difference to ordinary people in real terms.

The group urged politicians, business and voluntary groups to put the issue of personal well-being higher up the public agenda.

Despite large increases in national income and expenditure over the last 30 years, levels of life satisfaction have not increased at the same rate.

Although pay has increased, official statistics show that the gap between the richest and poorest 20 per cent has widened over the last 10 years.

Official figures also show little has been done to combat the long hours culture which has led to Britons working more than any other people in the EU.

Porritt, who advises Number 10 on environment and social issues, claimed traditional ways of measuring progress were now out-of-date.

"We can no longer depend on our growth-obsessed model of progress to generate the improvements in quality of life and personal well-being that people are now so hungry for," he said.

"The evidence shows that even as they get richer people aren't getting any happier. Yet our entire macro-economic strategy is still dedicated to a set of policies that demonstrably are not delivering the goods."