Measuring peoples’ perception of quality of life in Europe

Eurofound launches the fieldwork for the fourth edition of its European Quality of Life Survey today. The survey, which offers a comprehensive picture of the views of people living across 33 countries including the EU Member States and candidate countries, will be carried out over the coming 13 weeks.

The fourth edition of the European Quality of Life Survey covers 33 countries, 28 EU Member States and all five candidate countries: Albania, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. In total, 35,800 people will be surveyed in the 33 countries, with an individual target sample of between 1,000 to 2,000 per country. The fieldwork is carried out simultaneously in all countries, coordinated by TNS Opinion in Belgium with local partners, starting on Monday 5 September and ending on 2 December 2016.

Carried out every four years, this unique, pan-European survey examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens' lives and how they feel about those circumstances and their lives in general. It looks at a range of issues, such as housing, deprivation, family, health and wellbeing. It also looks at subjective topics, such as people’s levels of happiness, how satisfied they are with their lives, and their participation in society.

The survey presents data on issues that general statistics do not cover - such as the perceived quality of society, trust in institutions and social tensions. This round will have a specific focus on the use quality of public services: healthcare, long-term care, childcare and schools. Different aspects of quality will be measured, such as access, facilities, staff and information available.

Over the years, the EQLS has developed into a valuable set of indicators which complements traditional indicators of economic growth and living standard such as GDP or income. The European Commission uses it in various publications such as annual reports on employment and social developments in Europe. Other examples include the UNECE which uses the data for comparative research about countries for its Active Ageing Index, and the Danish government which uses the EQLS rating of health services in one of its official outputs. 

Click here for more information about the fourth European Quality of Life Survey (4^th EQLS). 

For further information, contact:

• Tadas Leončikas, Research Manager, email: tle@eurofound.europa.eu, telephone: +353-1-204 3123
• Daphne Ahrendt, Research Manager, email: dap@eurofound.europa.eu, telephone: +353-1-204 3168
• Eszter Sandor, Research Officer, email: esa@eurofound.europa.eu, telephone: +353-1-204 3151
• Sophia MacGoris, Surveys Assistant, email: eqls@eurofound.europa.eu, telephone: +353-1-204 3108