The delivery of basic public services is a core responsibility of governance systems. This lies at the heart of the social contract: public systems must meet expectations of their population especially in terms of access to health, education and basic public services in order to remain legitimate. Measuring people’s satisfaction with public services is important provides an important reflection of the health of governance systems themselves and the strength of the social contract between people and the state. This brief is intended help policy makers in making evidence-informed decisions. Focusing on SDG indicator 16.6.2, which measures people’s satisfaction with three categories of public services: health care, education and government (administrative) services, the brief illustrates why the indicator is important to measure, its methodology, examples of how such data is already being collected around the world and how data on this indicator can help government shape public sector policies.