Quality of Life EU – Most satisfied with their personal relationships and least with their financial situation and time use

On the occasion of the launch of this flagship publication, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, publishes a selection of the range of indicators it contains related to well-being and satisfaction of people in Europe in 2013. They provide a broad overview of the wealth of information measuring quality of life in the EU in an objective way that is available on the Eurostat website.This extends the data on overall life satisfaction published in a news release in March on the occasion of the 2015 World Happiness Day.

People in the EU are most satisfied with their personal relationships…

With an overall average score of 7.8 on a scale5 from 0 to 10, people in the EU aged 16 and over were globally most satisfied with their personal relationships. Satisfaction with personal relationships indeed ranked first in almost all EU Member States. Exceptions were Belgium and Finland (where satisfaction with accommodation was higher rated than personal relationships), Bulgaria (satisfaction with accommodation, with job and with commuting time all came ahead of personal relationships) and Sweden (satisfaction with green & recreational areas). It is notable that satisfaction with personal relationships was higher than life overall satisfaction in every EU Member State.

… and least satisfied with their financial situation and time use

In contrast, the area of lowest satisfaction for people living in the EU was their financial situation (an average of 6.0 among the EU population aged 16 and over). This is the case in all Member States apart from Sweden, where time use ranked slightly lower than the financial situation.

Time use is also an important issue in nineteen other EU Member States, where it ranked second lowest in terms of satisfaction. Noticeable exceptions were Bulgaria (where people were second least satisfied with living environment and green & recreational areas), Cyprus, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Portugal and Slovakia (green & recreational areas), Italy (living environment) and Latvia (accommodation).

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Facts and views about quality of life in the EU – Product – Eurostat.