Developing a country typology for analysing quality of life in Europe

Report
Published
14 November 2014
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Executive summary in 22 languages
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Author(s): 
Watson, Dorothy; Maître, Bertrand; Kingston, Gillian

Abstract

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 typoRead more

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. 

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  • Executive summary

    Number of pages: 
    2
    Reference no.: 
    EF14471
    Catalogue info

    Developing a country typology for analysing quality of life in Europe - Executive summary

    Author(s): 
    Eurofound

    The expansion of the EU provides an opportunity to improve understanding of the way in which a state can influence outcomes for its citizens: increasing diversity leads to substantial variation in terms of policies and their implementation, and it brings challenges in terms of the number and complexity of such differences. One way of dealing with this is to group countries. Many different models have attempted this, both in Europe and more widely, but none specifically focuses on quality of life while including the full set of current EU Member States. The goal of this project was to develop a country typology focused on quality of life as a multidimensional concept for the 34 countries included in the third European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS). Read more in the report - see Related content.

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Part of the series

  • European Quality of Life Survey 2012

    Eurofound's European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. This series consists of outputs from the EQLS 2012, the third edition of the survey. The survey was first carried out in 2003. 

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