As part of the annual Survey of Income and Living Conditions (SILC), respondents aged 16 years and older are asked to rate their satisfaction level with their overall life and their satisfaction level with the financial situation of their households on a scale from 0 (‘Not at all satisfied’) to 10 (‘Completely satisfied’). Well-being questions in the SILC are collected by direct interview.
Modules are carried out as part of SILC each year to complement the variables permanently collected in the survey. The theme of one of the 2022 SILC modules was ‘well-being’. The theme of one of the 2023 ad-hoc modules was ‘Labour Market and Housing’.
In the 2023, module respondents aged 16 years and older who self-defined their economic activity status as employed were asked to rate their job satisfaction level on a scale from 0 (‘Not at all satisfied’) to 10 (‘Completely satisfied’).
In the 2022 SILC well-being module, SILC survey respondents aged 16 years and over were asked to rate (on a scale from 0-10) their satisfaction levels with the following additional aspects of their lives.
The mean score for each satisfaction level indicator was calculated by adding individual scores and dividing the total by the number of individuals. In this publication, the responses for the satisfaction level indicators are also grouped as Low (0-5), Medium (6-8) and High (9-10).
As part of the annual SILC respondents are asked how often they felt ‘downhearted or depressed’ or 'lonely' in the four weeks prior to their interview date. The responses are given on a 5-point scale, with answers ranging from ‘none of the time’ to ‘all of the time’. The 2022 well-being module also contained a question on how often respondents felt happy in the four-week period prior to interview, with the same answer options as the ‘downhearted or depressed’ and 'lonely' questions.
This report also provides results for 2 additional well-being indicators that were collected as part of the 2022 well-being module. Survey respondents aged 16 and over were asked ‘To what extent do you agree with the statement ‘I feel left out’ (Please consider your social life, work and access to public services)’, with the following answer options.
Respondents were also asked ‘Do you have any relatives, friends or neighbours who are not your household members that you can ask for help? (This means any kind of help: moral, material or financial.)’ with ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ answers options.
As a result of only taking direct responses to the well-being indicator questions, the personal weights calculated as part of the core SILC survey had to be adjusted to account for attribute differences. This was achieved by adjusting the personal weights to account for non-direct response to the well-being questions. These adjusted weights were then calibrated to the estimated totals obtained by the core SILC survey to ensure consistency with the core SILC results.
Well-being figures published on the Eurostat website may differ from results in this publication as there is no requirement to create separate weights for well-being indicators that are collected as part of the annual core SILC.
Further information on the SILC’s methodology is available in the Background Notes section.
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