EQLS 2012 - Technical report
PDF document
European Quality of Life Surveys (EQLS)
Eurofound’s European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) documents living conditions and people’s social situation, and explores issues pertinent to the lives of European citizens.
European Quality of Life Survey 2012
Eurofound’s third European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS), carried out in 2012, documents living conditions and people’s social situation, and explores issues pertinent to the lives of European citizens. The overview report was published in November 2012.
The survey was carried out from the end of September 2011 to early February 2012.
Over 40,000 interviews were conducted in 34 countries, including 27 EU Member States, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.
Interviews were conducted face to face in respondents’ homes, using a questionnaire-based approach.
The questionnaire was available in 32 languages, and 40 unique language versions.
To display this data, use the filters below to select a question. Refine the results by selecting a country (or group of countries), apply additional filters (which vary throughout the surveys) or change the visualisation by selecting a preferred chart type.
Dashboard
EQLS 2016 dashboard
Declines of over 20% in levels of optimism and happiness are reported in some countries across the EU and over a third of people indicate a deterioration in their financial situation over the past five years. These results largely reflect – with some interesting exceptions – the economic reality, with highest optimism levels reported in Denmark, Sweden and lowest levels in Greece, Italy, and Portugal. The social situation in the European Union today represents a complex and complicated story. Since the last survey in 2007, more people who had good income and were in good quality housing are now struggling with unemployment, debts, housing insecurity and access to services.
The survey also highlights that it is harder for many people to make ends meet: 7% report ‘great difficulty’ making ends meet, with large differences between Member States, ranging from 22% in Greece to 1% in Finland. When asked to whom they would turn to urgently borrow money, most Europeans (70%) would ask a member of their family or a relative for a loan. Another 12% would ask a friend, neighbour or someone else, while 8% would turn to a service provider or institution. One out of ten (10%) report they would not be able to ask anybody; this was particularly true among people in the lowest income quartile (15%). Overall, 8% of people in the EU have been unable to pay back informal loans according to schedule.
Trust in key public institutions, governments and parliaments has fallen over the past five years, with the largest declines obvious in those countries facing the most serious economic difficulties, such as Spain and Greece. Trust in public institutions is highest in Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, and Sweden, largely due to an unmatched level of trust in national political institutions in these Member States.
Finally, the overview report examines a range of issues such as employment, income, housing and living conditions, family, health, work-life balance, life satisfaction and perceived quality of society.
This section provides further information targeted in particular at researchers.
The following publications were produced in relation to the EQLS 2012.
Methodology
In an effort to provide comparable and reliable data on quality of life across Europe, Eurofound has developed a unified methodological approach and quality assurance system. Over the years, the methodology has been improved, new concerns have been integrated and the geographical scope has expanded with the enlargements of the European Union.
Contractor
GfK Significant (Belgium)
Coverage
27 EU Member States and 7 non-EU countries (Croatia, Iceland, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey)
Fieldwork period
September 2011 to February 2012 (EU Member States); May to August 2012 (non-EU countries)
Target population
The target population is all residents of the countries mentioned above, aged 18 or older.
Sample
The basic sample is a multi-stage, stratified, random sample. Each country is divided into sections based on region and degree of urbanisation, in each of which a number of primary sampling units (PSU) is drawn randomly. Subsequently, a random sample of households is drawn in each PSU. Finally, in each household, the person chosen for interview is the one that has his or her birthday next.
Sample size
The target sample size ranges from 1,000 in the smaller countries to 3,000 in the biggest. Upon completion of the fieldwork, the total number of interviews was 43,636.
Type
Questionnaire-based with interviews conducted face to face in people's homes in the national language(s) of the country, average duration 38 minutes in EU27 and 39 minutes in non-EU countries.
Quality assurance
To ensure high quality of the data, each stage of Eurofound surveys is subject to detailed planning, close monitoring and documentation. Eurofound surveys subscribe to the quality criteria of the European Statistical System (ESS).
More information:
EQLS 2012 - Sampling report
PDF document
EQLS 2012 - Weighting strategy revision report
PDF document
EQLS 2012 - Coding report
PDF document
A high-quality questionnaire is a key element of a successful survey. Eurofound invests considerably in the development of its questionnaires. The third European Quality of Life Survey in 2012 questionnaire included questions from previous rounds, where possible and relevant, to enable analysis of trends over time. In addition, new concepts were integrated to reflect new and emerging areas of interest.
Questionnaire development
The EQLS 2012 questionnaire underwent detailed preparation in-house and was developed in consultation with Eurofound stakeholders, policy experts and quality of life researchers, including representatives from the European Commission, OECD and the New Economics Foundation. Approximately half of the questions in the EQLS 2012 questionnaire were identical to the previous survey to allow reporting changes over time and enable trend analysis. In addition, new concepts were integrated to reflect new and emerging areas of interest. New items in the EQLS 2012 included measures on work-life balance, negative affect, community participation, attitudes towards migrants and public services. A glossary was developed to aid the translation, train the field-force and aid use of the questionnaire.
Pre-test and piloting
A draft version of the questionnaire was pre-tested in French in Belgium and in English in the United Kingdom via the means of 60 field interviews and 30 cognitive interviews. This pre-test was used to check whether the questionnaire was easy to understand, to improve the sequence of questions, filters and instructions for interviewers, and to measure the length of an interview. The final source questionnaire was developed by Eurofound based on the findings of the pre-test. After finalising the source questionnaire in English and translating it, pilot interviews were carried out in each country to ensure that interviews ran smoothly in all languages.
27 November 2012: Third European Quality of Life Survey: Questionnaire
To ensure high-quality data, each stage of Eurofound surveys is subject to detailed planning, close monitoring and documentation. Eurofound surveys subscribe to the quality criteria of the European Statistical System (ESS).
In designing the EQLS 2012, the results of the quality assessment of the EQLS 2007 and the results of a dataset user survey were taken into account, along with consideration of emerging policy issues.
Quality control measures were included in the technical specification of the survey, and a specific quality control plan was developed and adopted with the fieldwork contractor. This ensured the application of best practice and establishment of specific quality control targets encompassing all survey phases.
The fieldwork contractor compiled a quality assurance report summarising the quality assurance activities performed during the survey preparation, data collection and data processing. Quality control measures for the EQLS 2012 covered elements from sampling to translation and questionnaire verification to interviewer control and data validation:
questionnaire verification (pre-tests, pilot interviews)
questionnaire translation validation
sample quality control, including enumeration control (via geocoding and mapping, at least 10% of the PSUs) for countries where registry based sampled were not available
checks and approvals of fieldwork materials
interviewing verification (CATI, postal or face-to-face back-checks of random 10% of the cases)
fieldwork visits by Eurofound
systematic data validation
A data editing & cleaning report is also available.
After the completion of the fieldwork, an external quality assessment of the EQLS 2012 was carried out against the quality criteria outlined by the European Statistical System (ESS).
EQLS 2012 - Quality control report
PDF document
The EQLS asks the same questions in all countries; therefore it is crucial to ensure that the quality of the language versions is high so that the survey results can be comparable. Eurofound’s detailed translation process reflects the importance it accords to this aspect of the survey.
The process included a review of the language versions of the previously used questions and translation of new items. Only qualified translators were employed in the process. For translating new items:
two independent translations from the English source questionnaire were prepared
these versions were processed into one draft version by a third person
this version was translated back into English and reviewed and commented on by the fieldwork coordination team
as a final stage, translations were proofread and validated by Eurofound staff and national survey experts
EQLS 2012 - Translation report
PDF document
Language versions
The source questionnaire was translated into 25 languages (31 unique language versions) across the 27 EU countries, and 7 languages (9 language versions) in 7 non-EU countries.
Below is the list of languages for each country.
| Survey country | Languages | Survey country | Languages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | German | Italy | Italian |
| Belgium | French, Dutch | Latvia | Latvian, Russian |
| Bulgaria | Bulgarian | Lithuania | Lithuanian, Russian |
| Cyprus | Greek | Luxembourg | Luxembourgish, French, German |
| Czech Republic | Czech | Malta | Maltese, English |
| Denmark | Danish | Netherlands | Dutch |
| Estonia | Estonian, Russian | Poland | Polish |
| Finland | Finnish, Swedish | Portugal | Portuguese |
| France | French | Romania | Romanian |
| Germany | German | Slovakia | Slovakian |
| Greece | Greek | Slovenia | Slovenian |
| Hungary | Hungarian | Spain | Spanish, Catalan |
| Ireland | English | Sweden | Swedish |
| United Kingdom | English |
| Survey country | Languages | Survey country | Languages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Croatia | Croatian | Montenegro | Montenegrin, Serbian |
| Iceland | Icelandic | Serbia | Serbian, Hungarian |
| Kosovo | Albanian, Serbian | Turkey | Turkish |
| Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia | Abanian, Macedonian |
As part of the EQLS 2012, the project on quality of life in the enlargement countries includes a series of seven individual country profiles – consisting of the main survey findings – and three reports on Trends in quality of life: on Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. Access the reports below.
Eurofound experts
You can contact the following experts for questions on the survey.
Daphne Ahrendt
Senior research managerSocial policies research
Daphne Ahrendt is a senior research manager in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. She is the coordinator of the survey management and development activity. In 2020, she initiated Eurofound’s Living and Working in the EU e-survey and now leads the 2026 European Quality of Life Survey, which she has worked on since the survey started in 2003. With over 30 years of experience in international survey research, she is also a member of the GESIS Scientific Advisory Board. Beyond surveys, her substantive research focuses on social cohesion, trust and the inclusion of persons with disabilities. Daphne started her career at the National Centre for Social Research in London where she worked on the International Social Survey Programme before moving to the Eurobarometer Unit at the European Commission. She holds a Master's degree in Criminal Justice Policies from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from San Francisco State University.
Eszter Sándor
Senior research managerSocial policies research
Eszter Sandor is a senior research manager in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. She has extensive experience in survey management, including questionnaire design and scripting, data preparation (processing, cleaning, weighting), and statistical analysis using R. She manages Eurofound’s e-survey (Living and working in the EU) and contributes to the preparation and management of the European Quality of Life Survey. Her research focuses on the quality of life of young people and families, including subjective well-being, mental well-being and living conditions.
Before joining Eurofound, she worked as an economic consultant in Scotland, specialising in economic impact assessments, evaluations, and input-output analysis. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Budapest University of Economics and Business and a Master’s degree in Economics and International Relations from Corvinus University of Budapest.
