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Mapping patterns of well-being and quality of life in extended Europe

International Review of Economics volume 59, pages 409–430 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

In this paper, we have applied a powerful clustering procedure (the two-step cluster analysis or BIRCH algorithm) to a set of non-monetary indicators of well-being and quality of life taken from the first four waves of the European Social Survey. By employing this technique, we have identified nine clusters of people characterized by different forms of well-being and quality of life, while preserving as much as possible the multidimensional information contained in the preselected indicators. We then analyzed the distribution of the clusters among the various European countries, finding significant differences among the groups of Nordic countries, Continental European countries, Mediterranean European countries and Eastern European countries in the chances of belonging to the nine forms of well-being and quality of life previously identified. On average, citizens of the Nordic countries, but also those of Switzerland and Luxembourg, have a higher chance of belonging to cumulative clusters of well-being than countries in Continental Europe and Eastern Europe. In very concise terms, the former appear to be somewhat protected from the risk of incurring the more severe forms of material deprivation, distrust of others and of institutions, poor health and relational isolation. In contrast, Eastern Europeans are characterized by particularly pronounced levels of deprivation across multiple dimensions.

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Notes

  1. In the terminology of Sen (1985), functionings are states and activities which have value for the individual.

  2. For further details see the report of the Second European Quality of Life Survey (2009) and Michaelson et al. (2009).

  3. The most often used criteria are the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) and the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC).

  4. The initial threshold for changing the distance was set to zero. The maximum ramifications for leaf node have been fixed at 8 value. Finally, the structure has a maximum depth of three levels and the maximum number of possible nodes was set at 585. For the purposes of our analysis we used the Two-Step Clustering procedure implemented in SPSS (Zhang et al. 1996).

  5. The indicators which are presented as scales (health satisfaction, satisfaction with finances and difficulty in making ends meet) have been normalized.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business and Social Sciences (DSAS), University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland (SUPSI), Palazzo E, 6928, Manno, Switzerland

    Jenny Assi & Mario Lucchini

  2. Istituto per lo Sviluppo della Formazione Professionale dei Lavoratori (ISFOL), Corso d’Italia 33, Rome, Italy

    Amedeo Spagnolo

Authors
  1. Jenny Assi
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  2. Mario Lucchini
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  3. Amedeo Spagnolo
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Correspondence to Jenny Assi.

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Assi, J., Lucchini, M. & Spagnolo, A. Mapping patterns of well-being and quality of life in extended Europe. Int Rev Econ 59, 409–430 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-012-0147-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12232-012-0147-z

Keywords

  • Well-being
  • Quality of life
  • Two-step cluster analysis
  • European social survey

JEL Classification

  • I30