Well-being in a changing Europe: A class and gender perspective

Well-being in a changing Europe: a class and gender perspective

João Ferreira de Almeida (CIES/ISCTE, ferreira.almeida@iscte.pt)

Rui Brites (CIES/ISCTE, rui.brites@iscte.pt)

Anália Torres (CIES/ISCTE, atorres@iscsp.utl.pt)

 Well-being associated with a positive perspective is a quality of life subjective indicator. Knowledge about European citizen’s well-being perception becomes possible thru ESS rounds 1 to 5. We have access, then, not only to a powerful instrument for quality of life comparative analysis between countries but also it is possible to contribute for policy makers informed decisions on this issue.

Subjective well-being study increasing relevance is due to the impossibility of reducing relevant social analysis to traditional economic measurement indicators, as for instance GDP per capita.

Therefore, one of the aims of this paper is to map well-being across Europe and calculate Gross National Happiness. Our main contribution, however, is to illustrate how social class and gender do differentiate individuals’ subjective well-being.

Key-words: Subjective Well-being; Gross National Happiness; social class; gender