Abstract:

The aim of this study is to analyze the subjective well-being levels of Europeans and Turkish citizens within the context of welfare-regime typology using the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) 2012 data. Subjective well-being, which consists of cognitive factors such as life satisfaction and affective factors such as happiness, is affected by individual factors such as personality, gender, age, income, and marital status, as well as macro factors such as macroeconomic indicators, political institutions, and quality of society. Welfare state types and the quality of social policies are also related to subjective well-being. This study demonstrates that the subjective well-being levels in institutionalized welfare regimes are higher through high levels of social expenditures and developed social services. Furthermore, the differences between the lowest and highest income quarters for subjective well-being are the lowest in social-democratic welfare regimes.

Keywords: