Mapping socioeconomic well-being across EU regions

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use multidimensional approach to provide a well-being description across European regions. Design/methodology/approach – By considering the set of socioeconomic indicators provided by Eurostat for the EU 266 NUTS-2 regions, three main analyses have been performed for the year 2009: first, the “ideal point” technique has been used to identify: the best EU performances; the number and type of indicators that needs to be improved in every European regions. Second, a map of well-being has been elaborated to provide a picture summarizing the regional values in comparison to the European average. Third, Gini coefficient has been calculated to identify the indicators performing the largest inequalities across EU. The method presented in this paper is suitable to be complemented with subjective ranking of values and preference, making the proposed methodology useful to investigate well-being in a national, regional or individual scale. Findings – By providing a multidimensional description of well-being across the 266 EU regions, the present paper identifies and maps the existing differences on socioeconomic performance. Originality/value – The results provided can be useful to design policies oriented to reduce inequalities and to promote socioeconomic and environmental convergences across European regions. As far as the authors know, this is the first paper that provides a map of regional socioeconomic well-being across Europe.