The high levels of resilience reported by the Netherlands may be of long-term benefit to the country as the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to present enormous social, economic and health challenges. The Netherlands reports the highest level of resilience across the EU, with just 17% of respondents reporting difficulty managing their lives when things go wrong.
Eurofound's analysis of the 2016 European Quality of Life Survey shows that in many countries decline in trust in institutions was a temporary phenomenon during the recession that followed the 2008 financial crisis.
While the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic presents enormous social, economic and health challenges, it is worth noting on Cyprus’ national day that there have been improvements to the quality of society in recent years with the level of social exclusion declining between 2011 and 2016, while at the same time, the level of trust in people has increased.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown societies around the world into flux and threatens to undo some of the positive progress that has taken place in recent years. However decreasing levels of societal tensions, such has been the case in Greece, may be a positive indicator of strengthening solidarity in society which is important in these difficult times.
Hungary has recorded a remarkable improvement in the level of labour market participation over the last decade and unemployment rates have fallen to some of the lowest levels in the EU. At the same time, life satisfaction in Hungary has increased from 5.9 in 2003 to 6.5 in 2016 and the share of population struggling to make ends meet has been on a downward trajectory.
Bulgaria has experienced seismic shifts in typical household composition over the last decade; reporting the largest decrease in the share of multigenerational households in the EU, as well as increasing levels of cohabitation and people living alone. These societal trends occur at the same time as improving quality of life, higher labour market participation rates and population ageing.
The new von der Leyen Commission took office on 1 December 2019. Having adopted its first work programme on 29 January 2020, the Commission sets out its plans for a transition to a fair, climate-neutral and digital Europe. It outlines six top priorities. Eurofound’s work directly feeds into a number of these key areas aimed at creating a strong social Europe.
Cohabitation – couples living together without being married – is on the rise in Europe. Eurofound’s calculations of EU data shows that France (13%), Sweden (13%) and Finland (12%) recorded the highest co-habitation rates in the EU in 2017.
A new analysis of EU-level data by Eurofound shows that one in three households in the EU is now single occupancy. Germany now has the largest proportion of the population living in single-person households, and large increases in the share of the population living alone have been reported in Lithuania and Bulgaria.
Lithuania has experienced significant improvements to the perceived quality of public services and overall living standards in recent years. However, despite overall increases to quality of living standards, income inequality has been increasing since the financial crisis, making Lithuania’s income distribution the second most unequal in the EU.
People living in the capital cities in Europe generally have a better quality of life and report higher life satisfaction than those living in other parts of the country. Capital cities also have a larger proportion of people who report feeling being able to cope during times of hardship than other urban centres and rural regions.
Finland reports some of the highest quality of life standards across the EU with happiness, life satisfaction and trust ranking top across the EU28 – to name just a few areas of high performance.
A common understanding of labour market segmentation is necessary to tackle poor quality jobs with lack of opportunities, affecting especially young people, women, immigrants and lower-educated individuals on the labour market. A new ambitious report explores why segmentation is problematic and identifies policy approaches which could be helpful in tackling this phenomenon.
As Romania celebrates its national day on Sunday, we mark the occasion by sharing our research and analysis to provide a snapshot of current living and working conditions.
Quality of life in Latvia has improved significantly in recent years with the share of people struggling to make ends meet reducing from 76% in 2003 to 52% in 2016. At the same time, self-reported life satisfaction increased from 5.6 in 2003 to 6.3 in 2016 and happiness levels from 6.5 to 7.0.
Eurofound’s Management Board has adopted an ambitious work programme for the organisation for 2020, the last of the current multiannual programme for 2017-2020
The number of people in Poland struggling to make ends meet has halved to 39% since the country’s membership of the EU and the share of people at risk of poverty has decreased to 18.9% in 2018 – below the EU average of 21.7%.
Contrary to a generalised concern about a ‘crisis of trust’ in the aftermath of the financial crisis, trust in national and EU institutions has bounced back to pre-crisis levels, while civic engagement has increased, and perceived social exclusion has decreased.
Levels of trust and social cohesion have recovered overall in the EU since the financial crisis, perceived social exclusion has declined and there has been an increase in active citizenship and civic engagement, according to Eurofound’s flagship report ‘Challenges and prospects in the EU: Quality of life and public services’.
Eurofound ha estado monitoreando e informando sobre las condiciones de vida y trabajo en España, en comparación con otros Estados miembros de la UE, desde antes de su adhesión a la UE en 1986.
