Press release 07/06/2023

SURVEY ON PERSONAL WELL-BEING. 2022

The satisfaction with life of the Basque population saw little variation over the last 5 years and stood at 7.5 in 2022

Leisure time, Satisfaction with the household economy and Trust in the public authorities were the indicators that improved compared to 2017

The population of the Basque Country scored 7.5 for Satisfaction with life in general in 2022 on a scale of zero to ten, according to Eustat data. The score was one tenth lower than in 2017, when it was 7.6.

This data is provided in the Survey on Personal Well-Being, which provides detailed information on the perception of well-being among the population aged 16 and over residing in family dwellings, through a series of questions that primarily measure aspects concerning quality of life aside from the material dimension.

The highest score (8.1) was found among people who reported belonging to an upper or upper-middle social class and the lowest (5.5) among those who considered themselves to be in poor health.

There were lower scores for this indicator the worse the perception of health and the lower the social class. On the other hand, the scores improved with the level of education completed.

According to the type of family, the best scores were for couples, both with and without children living in the same household (7.6 and 7.7, respectively), compared to single-member families or single fathers/mothers with a child (7.1).

Men (7.5) were more satisfied than women (7.4), while there were no differences at provincial level (7.5 in all provinces).

The same occurred with regard to place of birth, with a rating of 7.5 for all.

If we look at activity, employed people gave one of the highest scores (7.6), as opposed to the unemployed population, which had the lowest figure of 6.7.

The Value of life indicator received the highest score: 7.7

The value of one's own life, or the view that life is worthwhile, reached an average score of 7.7, three tenths less than in 2017, with 60.8% rating it as “high” compared to 3.4% of the population who considered it to be “low”.

Men gave value of life a score of 7.8, a slightly higher rating than that of women (7.7), while at provincial level it was the residents of Álava (7.8) who most valued their life compared to Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia (7.7 in both cases), although the differences were minimal.

As regards activity, employed people valued their life more (7.9), in comparison with the unemployed population (7.2), where this indicator was down 0.6 percentage points on 2017.

This indicator recorded a drop in all categories over the last 5 years. It yielded poorer results the worse the perception of health and/or the lower the social class, whereas it improved the higher the level of education completed. Meanwhile, there were no significant variations in terms of age.

Personal relationships was the second highest-rated aspect (7.5), together with Satisfaction with life

Personal relationships, one of the highest-rated aspects (7.5), achieved the highest score (7.7) among people who reported having good health or considered themselves upper or upper-middle class, and the lowest score (6.9) was found among those who stated they were in poor health. The rating for this indicator increased slightly the higher the level of education completed.

Unemployed people (7.3) rated Personal relationships less highly than employed or inactive people (7.6 in both cases), while there were no differences between men and women (7.5 in both cases), or by province of residence (7.5).

With regard to place of birth, the results were similar among people born in the three provinces and those born in other autonomous regions (7.5), with the lowest score being found among the group of people born abroad (7.4).

Satisfaction with housing and surroundings was high across practically all the groups

For the Satisfaction with housing and surroundings indicator (7.3), the best scores came from people who reported belonging to an upper or upper-middle social class (7.8), followed by those who stated they were in good health (7.6). Men (7.5) were more satisfied than women (7.2).

By province, people residing in Álava obtained the highest score (7.6), compared to residents of Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa (7.3 in both cases).

Finally, the lowest rating (6.6) came from people who reported being in poor health.

State of mind was linked to perceived health

The State of mind indicator reached an average of 6.2 for the population as a whole (one tenth less than in 2017). The lowest score was found among people who reported being in poor health (4.9) and the highest among those who rated their health as good (6.6). The second lowest score was observed among those who considered themselves to belong to a lower social class (5.9).

This indicator improved the higher the declared social class and the better the perceived health.

At provincial level, people residing in Bizkaia and Álava (6.2) had the lowest score, as opposed to residents of Gipuzkoa, whose average score stood at 6.3.

If we look at place of birth, people born in Álava or Bizkaia had a less positive state of mind.

The indicator obtained a higher rating among men (6.5) than women (6.0). By age, the lowest score (6.0) was recorded among people aged 16 to 24, with a drop of four tenths compared to 2017. Lastly, the over-65s reported having the most positive state of mind (6.4).

As regards family structure, couples without children achieved the highest score (6.5), compared to single fathers/mothers with a child living in the same household (5.9).

Older people were the most satisfied with their leisure time

With an average Satisfaction with leisure time of 6.9 (up two tenths on the previous rating), people aged 65 and over gave the highest score for this indicator (7.9), while those aged 35 to 49 gave the lowest (6.1). Both inactive and unemployed people also gave high scores (7.3), unlike those in employment (6.3).

Men (6.9) were slightly more satisfied than women (6.8), as were people residing in Gipuzkoa (6.9) in comparison with those living in Álava and Bizkaia (6.8).

Looking at the type of family, the worst score (6.5) was found among couples with a child living in the same household, compared to 7.4 for couples without children.

Unemployed people and those who reported belonging to a lower social class were the least satisfied with their household economy

The indicator Satisfaction with the household economy (6.9) increased the higher the social class, varying from 5.5 among people who considered themselves lower class to 8.0 for people who declared themselves upper or upper-middle class.

Unemployed people (5.7) were less satisfied with their household economy than those in employment (7.2).

By province, residents of Álava (7.1) were more satisfied than residents of Gipuzkoa (7.0) or Bizkaia (6.8), and people born in Gipuzkoa and Álava (7.1 in both cases) were more satisfied than those born in Bizkaia (7.0) and, above all, those born abroad (6.7).

With regard to age, the highest score (7.3) corresponded to the population aged 16-24, four tenths more than the other age groups (6.9 for all of them), and according to the type of family, couples with and without children had the highest scores (7.1 and 7.2, respectively).

The score for this indicator increased with the level of education completed, perceived health and, in particular, social class, with people who considered themselves upper or upper-middle class achieving the highest rating (8 points).

Trust in people was influenced by social class and perceived health

The Trust in people indicator (6.1) was down four tenths on 2017 and achieved its highest score (6.6) among people who reported belonging to an upper or upper-middle social class, while the lowest score (5.2) was recorded among those who reported being in poor health, following a drop of six tenths.

Trust in people was "high" for 23.8% of the population, whilst it was "low" for 12.7%.

Women (6.2) had slightly more trust than men (6.1), and people residing in Gipuzkoa (6.2) had more trust than those in Álava and Bizkaia (6.0 and 6.1, respectively).

Trust in the public authorities was up two tenths on 2017, but obtained the worst result (4.7)

Only 6.3% of the population trusted the public authorities "a lot", compared with 36.4% who had "little" trust in them. It was the only indicator with an average below the "pass level". However, this indicator improved in practically all the groups analysed, with a score two tenths higher on average.

Among the population groups that rated the public authorities above the pass level were residents of Álava (5.0) and people from other regions or abroad (5.0 and 5.5, respectively). This was also the case for people over 65 years old (5.0) and those who considered themselves upper or upper-middle class (5.2).

Trust among women (4.8) was slightly higher than among men (4.7), where it was up 4 tenths on 2017.

In terms of age, it was people over 65 years old who had the most trust in the political and legal systems and the police.

Furthermore, the score for this indicator steadily increased the higher the social class and the better the subjective health.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel.: 945 01 75 62