Quality of life in Europe: Quality of society and public services

This report investigates the perceived quality of society and public services in Europe today based on data from the third European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), a large Europe-wide survey conducted by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound) for the third time in 2011, following previous waves in 2003 and 2007. The third EQLS covers the 27 European Union Member States as at the time of the survey, as well as seven other European candidate or pre-accession countries (including Croatia).

The report explores how Europeans perceive the quality of their societies and of their public services. It looks at such aspects of society as trust in institutions and other people, perceived tensions between social groups, attitudes towards migrants and the effects of the economic crisis on social inclusion and social cohesion. It finds that satisfaction with the economic situation of one’s country, not being in employment and overall life satisfaction appear to boost satisfaction with public services; hardship appears to reduce it.

Eurofound: Quality of life in Europe: Quality of society and public services: Executive summary http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef13611.htm

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