# Regional disparities in subjective wellbeing across Europe: A fuzzy hybrid TOPSIS approach

## TL;DR

This study explores differences in happiness and life satisfaction across European regions using a fuzzy analysis and finds that Germany and Spain have some of the highest scores.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel fuzzy-hybrid TOPSIS approach to assess subjective well-being at both country and regional levels in Europe.

## Key findings

- Germany has the highest subjective well-being score (0.69) among the seven countries studied.
- Older individuals, those with intermediate education, and higher-income earners report higher subjective well-being.
- German and Spanish regions like Saarland and La Rioja rank highest in regional SWB assessments.

## Abstract

The study analyses differences in subjective well-being (SWB) across European regions. Through the Fuzzy-Hybrid TOPSIS approach, we analyse SWB at the country and regional levels. Additionally, a quantile regression model is employed to investigate the impact of socio-economic factors on SWB. The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) dataset from 2017 is used for seven countries: Denmark, Germany, Spain, France, Finland, Hungary and Slovenia. The synthetic indicator is derived from four indicators: happiness, life satisfaction, goal achievement, and family pressure. At the country level, Germany achieves the highest SWB score (0.69), while Hungary records the lowest (0.51). Regional analysis shows German regions (particularly Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein) and Spanish regions (notably La Rioja and Baleares) occupy top positions in the SWB rankings. Quantile regression results confirm that age, education level, and income significantly influence SWB, with older individuals, those with intermediate education levels, and higher-income earners showing consistently higher SWB values.