Communiqués de presse, 31 mai 2004
EU Presidency conference on ‘Improving living conditions and quality of life in rural Europe', Westport, Co. Mayo, 31 May - 1 June:
High quality of life in rural Europe
‘Quality of Life’ can be defined as the general well-being of the people living in a society. However, well-being depends not only on actual living and working conditions, but also on the way people feel, view and respond to their lives in a very large number of domains in a complex manner. An increase in income is usually considered to have a positive impact on quality of life. If it goes hand in hand with higher working hours or more stress, the overall effect on quality of life may be negative.
In 2002, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions identified twelve such domains relevant to people’s quality of life. They are:
- Economic resources
- Health and health care
- Employment and working conditions
- Knowledge, education and training
- Families and households
- Community life and social participation
- Housing
- Local environment and amenities
- Transport
- Public safety and crime
- Recreation and leisure activities
- Culture and identity, political resources and human rights, including the European dimension.
The important issue of ‘time use’ is considered to be of a transversal nature relevant for most of the twelve domains. Similarly, the emerging issue of ‘social capital’ relates to a number of domains, especially around community life, political resources and knowledge.
Quality of life and rural development
For this purpose the Foundation’s monitoring system is useful; and the new representative questionnaire-based survey on quality of life is of particular relevance.
Monitoring quality of life in Europe
In 2002 the Foundation launched an extensive monitoring system based on the following main activities
- Development of an interactive online database based on existing data sources in the EU (former EU-15, new Member States as well as candidate countries) around approximately 20 indicators in each domain.
- A representative, questionnaire-based survey in 28 countries with emphasis on the core domains listed above (sample size: 1000 per country). The results of this work are currently being analysed and disseminated.
- Analysis of a similar type Eurobarometer survey in the new Member States and EU-15 and the three candidate countries, jointly with the European Commission, published in 2004 (European Foundation/European Commission, 2004).
La Fondation européenne pour l'amélioration des conditions de vie et de travail est une organisation tripartite de l'UE, dont le rôle est de proposer des résultats, des connaissances et des conseils, qui s'inspirent d'une recherche effectuée de manière comparative. La Fondation a été créée par le règlement (CEE) n° 1365/75 du 26 mai 1975 du Conseil.
La Fondation propose des informations et actualités complémentaires à l’adresse suivante: http://www.fr.eurofound.europa.eu/about/about.htm
Pour plus de renseignements, veuillez contacter M. Måns Mårtensson, attaché de presse de la Fondation, par téléphone +353-1-204 3124 ou par téléphone mobile +353-876-593 507.