Developing a country typology for analysing quality of life in Europe

As the European Union grows in size and diversity, it becomes increasingly challenging to summarise the impact of state actions on the lives of citizens. One approach to this complexity is to group countries based on characteristics relevant to quality of life. This report develops a country typology focused on quality of life as a multidimensional concept. It draws on (a) a review of the literature on country groups, (b) an empirical cluster analysis of macro-level indicators of state capacity and action and (c) an analysis of data on quality of life from the 2012 European Quality of Life Survey. This report develops a typology of the 34 countries included in this survey (the 28 EU Member States as well as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey). Drawing mainly on a synthesis of the literature, it goes on to recommend an eight-group system, which can be collapsed into five or three groups depending on the requirements of the analysis. An executive summary is available.