Estonian Human Development Report

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Figure 3.3.1. Satisfaction with life in Estonia in 1990–2008 (percentage of respondents who were satisfied/very satisfied with their lives). S = spring; A = autumn. 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 1990 60 1996 37 56 1999 50 2001 54 53 2002 2003 2004 Source: World and European Values Survey 1990–1999; Eurobarometer 2001–2008. 70 of life, for example, marriage, work, their material situation, or how meaningful and purposeful they believe their lives to be. The emotional or affective component, on the other hand, is characteristic of people’s tendency to experience positive emotions more frequently than negative ones. In other words, people rate high on the scale of subjective well-being when they are satisfied with their life and experience more positive than negative emotions. In recent decades, interest in studies concerned with subjective well-being and satisfaction with life has increased sharply. One of the reasons for this trend is 67 2005 S 71 2005 A 69 2006 S 79 78 Figure 3.3.2. Satisfaction with life in EU member states and candidate countries in the autumn of 2007 (percentage of respondents who were satisfied/very satisfied with their lives) 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2006 A 98 96 96 95 94 91 90 89 87 87 87 85 85 83 83 81 78 76 71 70 69 68 67 63 63 2007 76 2008 55 52 49 38 Denmark The Netherlands Sweden Finland Luxembourg United Kingdom Belgium Ireland Spain Austria Slovenia France Cyprus Germany Malta Czech Republic Estonia Poland Italy Croatia Slovakia Greece Latvia Lithuania Macedonia Portugal Hungary Romania Bulgaria Source: Eurobarometer 2007. probably the fact that many studies show that people who are happier and more satisfied with life enjoy more successful marriages, have more friends and better relationships with others, receive larger incomes, are better at their jobs, have more ties with the community they live in, participate in volunteer work and, most importantly, have a better state of health and live longer (Lyubomirsky et al. 2005). What is even more significant – happiness and satisfaction with life are the cause and not the result of all these good things: people are not happy because they are healthy and have higher incomes; instead, they are healthy and more successful because they are happy and satisfied with life (Lyubomirsky et al. 2005). Dynamics of satisfaction with life in Estonia during the last 20 years Following the assessments of Estonians regarding their satisfaction with life has been possible through international surveys since 1990 (Figure 3.3.1.). The relevant data regarding the 1990s was gathered through the European and World Values Surveys conducted in Estonia in 1990, 1996 and 1999 14 . Since 2001, it has been possible to analyze Estonian residents’ satisfaction with life on the basis of Eurobarometer 15 surveys, which are conducted in all EU member states and candidate countries once or twice annually. Both surveys ask respondents to rate their satisfaction with life as a response to a similar question (“On the whole, how satisfied are you with your life in general?”) on a scale of 1–10 (1 – not satisfied … 10 – satisfied; World Values Survey) or 1–4 (1 – not at all satisfied … 4 – very satisfied; Eurobarometer). Figure 3.3.1. shows the percentage of respondents who were satisfied or very satisfied with their lives (Eurobarometer surveys) or who used scale points 6–10 to characterize their satisfaction with life (European and World Values Surveys) in the given year. The satisfaction with life of residents of Estonia varied considerably during the 1990–1999 period. Approximately 60% of Estonian residents were satisfied with their lives in 1990, immediately before the restoration of Estonia’s independence. However, amid the whirlwind of social, economic and political change that occurred during the first five or six years after Estonia had regained its independence, the satisfaction rate dropped nearly twofold – only a little more than a third (37%) of Estonian residents were satisfied or very satisfied with their lives in 1996. By 1999, the rate of satisfaction with life had reached almost the same level (56%) as before the restoration of independence. Even at the beginning of the 2000s, Estonians’ rate of satisfaction with life was one of the lowest in Europe, but it began a steady increase after Estonia’s accession to the European Union in 2004. In the autumn of 2007, 78% of the residents of Estonia were satisfied or very satisfied with their lives, a rate only slightly below the EU average (80%; Figure 3.3.2.). Connection between subjective wellbeing and cultural factors Subjective well-being has long been considered to be dependent solely on external factors. The studies con- 14 see http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/ 15 see http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/standard_en.htm | 64
ducted during the last decade have revealed, however, that various demographic factors only have a partial effect on an individual’s level of subjective well-being. In addition to external factors, the subjective well-being of people is also dependent on whether their personality is dominated by traits that characterize them as neurotic or extroverted. People with a high neurotic tendency are more prone to experience negative emotions, while the lives of more extroverted people are dominated by positive emotions. Since it has been discovered that most personality traits, especially the tendency to be neurotic or extroverted, are hereditary to a large degree, it can be theorized that approximately 50–60 per cent of individual differences related to subjective well-being have to do with hereditary traits. The data on Estonia presented in the 2006 European Social Survey also confirm this connection: people who experienced more positive (r = .20, p = .05) and less negative (r = -.27, p = .05) emotions during the week preceding the survey were more satisfied with life. At the same time, the relative importance of positive emotions in assessments of satisfaction with life is not very significant in Estonia as well as other post-communist countries where emphasis is still being placed on values related to survival (Inglehart & Baker, 2000) – i.e. trust in other people, low tolerance, scarce political activity, awareness of the environment and personal initiative. People in these countries tend to be happy and satisfied even when things are “normal”, i.e. not going very badly. However, in countries (including the Nordic countries and many European states) where people emphasize values related to self-expression instead of values related to survival (high level of trust, tolerance, political and social activity, etc.), people need many positive emotions, lots of positive stimulation to be happy with their lives. This is why the definition of a “good life” depends, to a large degree, on the values held by the culture in question (Kuppens et al. 2008). Socio-demographic factors affecting satisfaction with life Although a large percentage of Estonian residents are satisfied with their lives, considerable differences still exist if we look at people by age groups, level of education, citizenship and income level. These differences can be analyzed on the basis of data gathered in the course of the 2006 European Social Survey (a total of 1517 respondents in Estonia). This survey measures the respondents’ satisfaction with life with the help of the following questions: “All in all, how satisfied are you with your life in general? Rate your satisfaction using a scale of 0–10 where 0 means that you are not satisfied at all and 10 means that you are very satisfied”. (In order to compare the results of the social survey with earlier surveys, the scale has been reduced to a ten point scale varying from 1 to 10). 16 One of the most important factors influencing Estonian residents’ satisfaction with life is age: approximately Figure 3.3.3. Percentage of people satisfied or very satisfied with life by age group (%) 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 87 20 and younger 74 69 70 20–30 31–40 41–50 51–60 61–70 70 and older Age Source: European Social Survey 2006. 54 52 87% of Estonian residents aged up to 20 are satisfied or very satisfied with their lives, while among respondents aged 61–70 only 52% are satisfied with their lives. It is probable, however, that this is not simply a reflection of age-related peculiarities, but instead a difference in the level of satisfaction of different generations. This interpretation is also supported by the fact that the data gathered in Finland at the same time and in the course of the same surveys reveals no connection at all between age and satisfaction with life. Furthermore, a similar representative survey conducted in Sweden in 1998–2000 demonstrated that respondents belonging to older age groups exhibited a higher level of satisfaction and happiness (Hansson et al. 2000). Consequently, the lower level of satisfaction with life of older Estonian residents is more likely caused by social than biological factors (Realo 2006). In addition to age, the level of satisfaction of Estonian residents is dependent on their citizenship. Respondents who were Estonian citizens had a nearly 20% higher satisfaction rate than those who were Russian citizens and a 10% higher satisfaction rate than stateless respondents (holders of an alien’s passport). While the levels of satisfaction with life are very similar in the case of women and men, it appears that Estonian residents who are unmarried and do not have children are remarkably more satisfied with their lives than people with children and individuals who are married or divorced. However, these differences become trivial after taking into account the effect of age. In other words, the level of satisfaction with life in Estonia is highest primarily among young people (especially students) who have not yet started a family of their own. Meanwhile, the number of children growing in a family does not influence the respondents’ assessments of their satisfaction with life. Naturally, the respondents’ level of education plays a significant role in the assessment of their satisfaction with life. The satisfaction rate is nearly 18% higher 56 16 According to the Social Survey, 65% of Estonian residents were satisfied with their lives at the end of 2006/beginning of 2007 (i.e. used scale points 6–10), which is 14% lower than the result of the Eurobarometer survey that was conducted in the same year and indicated that 79% of Estonian residents were satisfied with their lives. This effect was probably caused by the use of the response scale, since a similar difference between the results of the Social Survey and the Eurobarometer survey is apparent in most countries that took part in the social survey. However, the rank correlation between the results of the Social Survey and the Eurobarometer survey among countries that participated in both studies is very high, with Spearman’s R = .95, p = .000. 65 |
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Estonian Human Development Report
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Estonian Human Development Report T
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4.2. Ethnic differentiations in sat
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Preface This year, the Estonian Hum
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CHAPTER 1 Estonian Human Developmen
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Figure 1.1.3. Life expectancy in co
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Page 32 and 33: 1.5. Changes in the Estonian Human
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Page 38 and 39: Figure 2.4.1. Healthy life years of
Page 40 and 41: Figure 2.4.4. Various accidents, tr
Page 42 and 43: 2.5. Lifestyle and behaviour as a s
Page 44 and 45: Figure 2.5.5. Smoking in Estonia in
Page 46 and 47: Figure 2.6.1. Overview of the compo
Page 48 and 49: Table 2.6.2. Use of specialized med
Page 50 and 51: dren. The majority of services are
Page 52 and 53: Figure 2.8.2. How much a health dis
Page 54 and 55: 2.10. Policy recommendations aimed
Page 56 and 57: CHAPTER 3 Quality of life and life
Page 58 and 59: Table 3.2.1. Characteristics of liv
Page 60 and 61: Table 3.2.4. An assessment of the e
Page 62 and 63: Figure 3.2.4. Difference in the job
Page 64 and 65: Table 3.2.6. Agreement with stateme
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Page 72 and 73: Figure 3.5.1. Percentage of teenage
Page 74 and 75: Figure 3.5.4. Percentage of respond
Page 76 and 77: Arieh A., Conti C., Kutsar D., Nicg
Page 78 and 79: Figure 3.6.2. Subjective quality of
Page 80 and 81: Pieper, A. Sixsmith, Care related q
Page 82 and 83: Figure 3.7.1. The placement of Euro
Page 84 and 85: Figure 4.2.1. Life satisfaction by
Page 86 and 87: Table 4.2.1. Factors forming genera
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Page 92 and 93: Figure 4.3.4. Attitudes of the Esto
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Page 100 and 101: Figure 4.5.4. Certainty of Estonian
Page 102 and 103: mote equal opportunities. At the (e
Page 104 and 105: CHAPTER 5 Quality of life in a cons
Page 106 and 107: Figure 5.2.1. GDP and AIC per capit
Page 108 and 109: Figure 5.2.3. Distribution of consu
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Table 5.3.5. Connections between po
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Table 5.4.1. Who and what are the f
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Table 5.4.3. Young people’s asses
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Figure 5.4.6. Time spent on the con
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Table 5.4.6. The perception of prob
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5.6. Summary To briefly summarize t
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Table 6.2.1. Objective and subjecti
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Figure 6.2.4. Relationship between
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Figure 6.2.7. Difference between th
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Figure 6.3.1. GDP, government secto
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Figure 6.3.3. Employed 15-74-year-o
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Figure 6.3.8. Percentage of social
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References 1. Aaviksoo, A., G. Paat
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Figure 6.4.1. Labour market flexibi
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Figure 6.4.3. Creations of jobs ind
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Figure 6.4.5. Public expenditures o
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Figure 6.4.6. Ratio of the particip
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6.5. Cities as development engines
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Table 6.5.2. Existence of developme
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have been underfinanced or are not
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Table 7.1. Factors that favour and
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Table 7.2. Potential economic devel
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Authors Chapter 1 Ene-Margit Tiit,
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Margit Keller (PhD) is a Senior Res
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Special prizes Estonian Human Devel
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Estonian Human Development Report H
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Estonian Human Development Report H
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Honorable mentions Estonian Human D
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Estonian Human Development Report P
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Estonian Human Development Report A
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Estonian Human Development Report

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