Subjective well-being
Subjective well-being refers to how people perceive the quality of their lives. Promoting the well-being of its citizens is a key goal for the EU and has gained prominence in the social policy agenda in the last decade. This includes differences or inequalities in health.
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The roots of Europe's mental health crisis run deep
This article looks at the trends, the groups at risk, the services and policies in the area of mental health. The European Commission’s communication on a comprehensive approach to mental health, adopted in June 2023, aims to place mental health on an equal footing with physical health and ensure a new, cross-sectoral approach to mental health issues. But, solutions must be sought not only narrowly within mental health care, but also in improving living and working conditions and facilitating social and economic inclusion.Quality of life in the EU in 2024: Results from the Living and Working in the EU e-survey
Eurofound’s e-survey captures the situation of European respondents and their post-pandemic concerns. This factsheet outlines the most recent data on the main challenges faced by Europeans, with a particular emphasis on the rising cost of living, health and mental health, access to healthcare services, work–life balance, and changes in telework opportunities. View the publication or read the findings in digital format via the related content.
Becoming adults: Young people in a post-pandemic world
During the pandemic, many young people had to change their plans for the future. While at the end of 2023 young people’s labour market situation was more favourable than it had been in recent years, many obstacles remained on their route to independence, such as the rising cost of living and inability to move out of the parental home. This report explores young people’s wishes and plans for the future – and the well-being outcomes related to these plans – in the context of the current labour market and housing situation and progress on the implementation of the EU’s reinforced Youth Guarantee.
European Quality of Life Survey
Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) has a uniquely large set of indicators of subjective well-being (26 indicators in the 2016 survey). Two global measures are typically included to capture overall subjective well-being:
life satisfaction, which allows people to provide an overall evaluation of their life
overall happiness, which enables people to give a more emotional assessment of how they feel
Indicators of well-being
Eurofound launched its first EQLS in 2003, having completed its fourth survey in 2016. The conceptual framework used in the EQLS is generally in line with the OECD guidelines. It addresses subjective well-being by means of three groups of indicators:
evaluative well-being – life satisfaction and satisfaction with domains of life
positive and negative affect – happiness, vitality, feeling calm, feeling cheerful, feeling depressed
eudaimonic well-being – optimism, autonomy, sense of purpose, having time to enjoy life and resilience
EQLS findings show that the strongest determinants of higher life satisfaction and happiness are having a sense of purpose, followed by optimism about one’s future and autonomy.
Health is another key determinant of well-being. EQLS data shed light on changes in self-reported health for the EU population as a whole and in relation to groups of particular concern. With regard to mental health and well-being, the EQLS asks several questions that can be used to construct the WHO Mental Well-being Index (WHO-5).
The EQLS 2016 included two additional items that measure resilience to capture the perceived capacity to deal with problems and the time it takes to bounce back. Perceived resilience correlates positively with mental well-being variables.
Article 3 of the Treaty of the European Union outlines the importance for the EU of promoting the well-being of its peoples and to work for the sustainable development of Europe. The European Pillar of Social Rights reiterates this objective and highlights that a strong social Europe is about putting people and their well-being at the centre. Good health and well-being is also one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
To capture the complexities around modern societies, the European Commission’s Beyond GDP initiative aims to measure progress, true wealth and well-being by developing indicators that complement GDP figures but are more inclusive of environmental and social aspects of progress. Moreover, Eurostat’s quality of life indicators provide recent statistics on various dimensions of quality of life in the EU, also complementing the traditionally used indicator of GDP.
The WHO European Framework for Action on Mental Health and Well-being 2021–2025, co-funded by the Commission, supports the EU Member States in reviewing their policies and sharing experiences in improving policy efficiency and effectiveness.
In a global context, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has produced guidelines on the collection and use of measures of subjective well-being.
European Commission: The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Planopens in new tab
United Nations: Sustainable Development Goalsopens in new tab
European Commission: Alternative measures of progress beyond GDP opens in new tab
Eurostat: Quality of life indicatorsopens in new tab and Subjective well-being - statisticsopens in new tab
OECD: OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-beingopens in new tab
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
21 May 2024
Becoming adults: Young people in a post-pandemic world
During the pandemic, many young people had to change their plans for the future. While at the end of 2023 young people’s labour market situation was more favourable than it had been in recent years, many obstacles remained on their route to independence, such as the rising cost of living and inability to move out of the parental home. This report explores young people’s wishes and plans for the future – and the well-being outcomes related to these plans – in the context of the current labour market and housing situation and progress on the implementation of the EU’s reinforced Youth Guarantee.
7 December 2022
Living, working and COVID-19 in the European Union and 10 EU neighbouring countries
The Living, working and COVID-19 survey, first launched by Eurofound in early 2020, aims to capture the wide-ranging impact of the pandemic on the work and lives of EU citizens. The fifth round of the Eurofound survey, which was implemented in spring 2022, also sheds light on a new uncertain reality caused by the war in Ukraine, record-high inflation and sharp rises in the cost of living. As a pilot survey, a shorter version of the questionnaire was fielded by the European Training Foundation (ETF) in 10 European Union (EU) neighbouring countries. This joint Eurofound-ETF factsheet presents a selection of results from the survey covering both the EU-27 and the 10 selected EU neighbouring countries.
The results reveal at least one clear commonality across respondents from all countries: serious concerns about the rising cost of living. At the same time, the results point to a large divergence in living and working conditions between respondents in the two groups of countries, but also show large differences within the EU itself and amongst the selected EU neighbouring countries.
28 January 2022
COVID-19 and older people: Impact on their lives, support and care
This report captures the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the quality of life of older citizens, including the impact on their well-being, finances, employment and social inclusion. It explores the effects on the use of care services and older people’s reliance on other support. The report presents policy measures that have been implemented in EU Member States to support older people along all of the above-mentioned dimensions. These include measures to support independent living and schemes to support the labour market integration of older people or to prevent unemployment, all of which play a role in the quality of life of older citizens.
9 November 2021
Impact of COVID-19 on young people in the EU
Following a long recovery from the economic crisis (2007–2013), young people in the EU proved to be more vulnerable to the effects of the restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Young people were more likely than older groups to experience job loss, financial insecurity and mental health problems. They reported reduced life satisfaction and mental well-being associated with the stay-at-home requirements and school closures. While governments responded quickly to the pandemic, most efforts to mitigate the effects of restrictions were temporary measures aimed at preventing job loss and keeping young people in education. This report explores the effects of the pandemic on young people, particularly in terms of their employment, well-being and trust in institutions, and assesses the various policy measures introduced to alleviate these effects.
27 January 2020
What makes capital cities the best places to live?
Quality of life data show that in most countries, the capital city has advantages compared to the regions outside the capital. In light of the continued growth of capital city populations and the concentration of resources within them, this policy brief explores the source of the advantages of capital cities in quality of life. Are these advantages mostly related to specific demographics that these cities nurture and attract? Or do these advantages stem from opportunities that major cities provide due to their scale and economic growth?
The policy brief aims to clarify why policy should focus on both the economy and society when it comes to advancing economic, social and territorial cohesion.
19 December 2019
Household composition and well-being
Demographic change, social progress and economic cycles have impacted household composition in Europe. This report provides an overview of household types in the European Union, how they have changed over the period 2007–2017 and how household type relates to outcomes in terms of living conditions and well-being – such as life satisfaction, the feeling of social exclusion and mental well-being. Changes in household structure have a potential impact on demand for public services and social benefits. The report also discusses the policy implications of changing household composition and recent policies responding to the increasing diversity of households. The report underlines the importance of recognition of diverse family forms, of the provision of social support, and of family policy measures complementing income support in reducing inequality of well-being among households.
12 November 2018
Social cohesion and well-being in Europe
This report provides an analysis of European societies in terms of social cohesion – in particular, social tensions, perceived social exclusion and community engagement are explored as key dimensions. It analyses the links between societal characteristics (quality of society) and well-being of different social groups. The analysis looks at how perceived levels of societal tensions have changed in European societies over time (2003–2016). It also examines which dimensions of social cohesion are most important for individual well-being. The report is based on data from Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey 2016, the fourth survey since 2003.
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Eszter Sándor
Senior research managerEszter Sandor is a senior research manager in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. She has extensive experience in survey management, including questionnaire design and scripting, data preparation (processing, cleaning, weighting), and statistical analysis using R. She manages Eurofound’s e-survey (Living and working in the EU) and contributes to the preparation and management of the European Quality of Life Survey. Her research focuses on the quality of life of young people and families, including subjective well-being, mental well-being and living conditions.
Before joining Eurofound, she worked as an economic consultant in Scotland, specialising in economic impact assessments, evaluations, and input-output analysis. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Budapest University of Economics and Business and a Master’s degree in Economics and International Relations from Corvinus University of Budapest.
This section provides access to all content that has been published on the topic.
