Eurofound launches the fieldwork for its 3
rd European Quality of Life Survey in 33 countries :
New survey on quality of life in Europe
(DUBLIN, IRELAND) Eurofound is set to survey nearly 42,000 people in 33 countries about their quality of life when the 3
rd European Quality of Life Survey starts on 12 September. Since its inception in 2003, Eurofound’s Quality of Life Surveys have offered a valuable set of indicators for both social policy-makers and the general public.
Are you happy with your life? Do you have decent housing? Do you spend time volunteering or in sports organisations? A good quality of life is what we all want, but for many people it is hard to find. By learning more about how people in Europe really live and what problems they face we can start to do something about it, and make a real difference to people’s everyday lives. The European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) seeks to learn more, to do just that.
The EQLS is a unique survey that examines both the objective circumstances of European citizens’ lives and how they feel about those circumstances, and the quality of the society in which they live. The survey looks at a range of issues such as employment, income, education, housing, family, health and work-life balance. It also asks people to assess their life, such as their levels of happiness, how satisfied they are with their jobs and housing, and how they perceive the quality of the services in their local communities.
The new survey will be carried out in the 27 EU Member States, and later in Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey, as well as Kosovo and Serbia. The survey was carried out for the first time in 2003, covering 28 countries. The second wave of the survey took place in 2007 in the 27 Member States of the EU, Norway and the EU candidate countries. Significant GfK, in partnership with Eurofound, will be carrying out the fieldwork for the third EQLS from September to December 2011.
Eurofound's European Quality of Life Survey was developed almost a decade ago, with the aim of providing social policy-makers with new indicators on how European citizens view their quality of life and well-being. The results from the surveys over time contribute to a new and necessary way of measuring societal progress.
The EQLS indicators complement traditional indicators of economic growth and living standards such as GDP but are more inclusive of environmental and social aspects of progress. The results are increasingly part of both the political and public debate at EU and national levels in the European Union.
The first results of the 3rd European Quality of Life Survey will be presented in 2012.
More information on the 3rd European Quality of Life Survey is available at
http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/index.htm
For further information, contact Mans Martensson, media manager, on email :
mma@eurofound.europa.eu, telephone : +353-1-2043124, or mobile : +353-876-593 507.
1