EQLS 2007: Findings

Overview of results

• Europeans are generally satisfied and happy with life: on a scale from one to ten, the EU27 average is 7 for life satisfaction and 7.5 for happiness;
• Disparities in household incomes across Europe are stark: in the EU27, Bulgaria and Romania have incomes almost as low as that of the candidate country, FYR Macedonia; to cope with inadequate income, around half of all households in the NMS12 and CC3 (with the exception of Cyprus and Malta) grow some of their own food;
• The family is highly involved in child- and eldercare and remains the first port of call for personal support in emergencies; Europeans report high levels of satisfaction with their family life; women still spend more time than men in caring activities and domestic duties;
• A good work-life balance is tricky to achieve and problems with it appear to be most common in south-eastern Europe: in Croatia and Greece, a little over 70% of working citizens say that they are too tired to do household jobs at least several times a month because of work;
• 81% of EU residents said that good health was ‘very important’ for their quality of life: however, on average, only 21% of people rate their health as ‘very good’;
• When asked to rate the quality of society, people in the eastern European NMS12 – and in Italy and Portugal – trust their political institutions the least. Citizens in the Nordic countries, and in Turkey, have the most trust in their institutions; people in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands also express the highest levels of trust in other people.