Quality of life in Europe: Quality of society and public services

This report explores how Europeans perceive the quality of their societies, and of their public services. It looks at such aspects of society as trust in institutions and other people, perceived tensions between social groups, attitudes towards migrants and the effects of the economic crisis on social inclusion and social cohesion. It finds that satisfaction with the economic situation of one’s country, not being in employment and overall life satisfaction appear to boost satisfaction with public services; hardship appears to reduce it. In societal terms, trust in institutions decreased visibly from 2007 to 2011. Trust in people however changed less than trust in institutions and is more similar across the EU. A positive relationship exists between trust in institutions and satisfaction with the economic situation of one’s own country; a negative relationship between trust in institutions and inequality. And tensions were perceived to be highest between different racial and ethnic groups and between rich and poor.