Subjective well-being in European countries

Abstract

Quality of life is a top issue in European social policy agenda. Quality of life is an important source of comparative information on living conditions and opportunities for Europeans, as well as how they assess their own life. Quality of life can provide data to elaborate social policies at European level, in order to reduce social inequalities and increase social cohesion. Subjective indicators of quality of life are increasingly used in social policy proposals. The paper aims to describe the changes in the subjective well-being of European citizen during the period of 2003-2012 and to highlight economic crisis effect on quality of life. The analysis is based on three waves of the European Quality of Life Survey (2003, 2007, 2011/2012) conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The work is done in terms of quality of life and focuses on subjective well-being indicators, such as life satisfaction, satisfactory to the areas of life, happiness and perception of social exclusion.