engleski

Life satisfaction in the Mediterranean: The cradle of Europe with unhappy newborns

People intuitively believe that living in the Mediterranean part of Europe contributes to better quality of life and better subjective well-being. However, this common belief may not correspond to the facts. The aim of this study was to empirically compare subjective well- being (happiness, life satisfaction and domain satisfaction) between Mediterranean and other EU countries. The data from the European Quality of Life Survey - EQLS (round 4) were used for the analysis. The survey was conducted during 2016 and 2017 on representative samples of adult population within 28 EU countries + Albania, FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey. The sample included n = 16, 493 respondents living in 11 Mediterranean countries and n = 20, 415 respondents from 22 Non-Mediterranean countries. The respondents were equally distributed by gender (51.6% women), with the age range between 18 and 95 years (M = 48.14, SD = 18.08). Cross-national population weights were applied to ensure representativeness of group comparisons. The results showed that in all well-being measures (happiness, life satisfaction, satisfaction with important life domains: education, job, standard of living, accommodation, family life, local area) respondents living in Mediterranean countries showed lower well-being than those living in Non-Mediterranean countries. The observed differences were not large, but statistically significant even after controlling for factors that are known to be associated with well-being on national level (monthly household income, material deprivation and satisfaction with public services). The prediction of Mediterranean and Non-Mediterranean group membership based on life satisfaction domains showed that satisfaction with local area, education and standard of living contributed to groups difference the most, while satisfaction with family life was only insignificant predictor. The possible reasons for lower well- being in the Mediterranean, the historical cradle of Europe, were discussed.

quality of life, subjective well-being, Mediterranean, EU

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