Deliverables

Stakeholder consultations

We envisage various stakeholder consultations. These are in the form of questionnaires to elicit expectations regarding pathways and outcomes, and to inform the scenarios analysed in the project.

Well-being and Population Ageing

The first stakeholder consultation is on ‘Well-being and Population Ageing’. The questionnaire considers different future scenarios for each of the country examined (Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the UK), policy responses, the role of technology and AI and expected effects on demographic groups and individual well-being. These will help inform the choice of the demographic and policy counterfactuals, and to set the context for interpreting the results. The questionnaire is composed of 35 questions and should take 10-15 minutes to complete. 

Link to questionnaire (valid until 22 May 2026).

Papers and reports

• Tollosa DN, Cederstrom A, Sonnewald D, Morawski L, Brzezinski M, Rostila M, Katikireddi VS, Niedzwiedz CL, Kopasker D, Richiardi M (2026). Multidimensional Well-Being in Europe: Trends and Cross-Country Comparisons in Sweden, Germany, Spain and Poland (2004-2024).

This report presents the construction and analysis of a Multidimensional Index (MDI) of WellBeing across four European countries ─ Sweden, Germany, Spain, and Poland ─ using EUSILC cross-sectional survey data spanning 2004–2024. Based on the OECD well-being framework, the analysis covers ten (out of eleven) key dimensions, including income and wealth, housing, health, safety, environment, life satisfaction, social connections, as well as jobs and earnings, education, and work–life for the working-age population (25─64).
Standardized well-being scores (0─1) were constructed for each dimension, with composite indices derived using principal component analysis (PCA) where multiple indicators were available. The MDI was computed as the average of the available dimension scores.
The findings reveal notable cross-country variation in both individual dimensions and overall well-being. Sweden consistently ranks highest, followed by Germany, while Spain shows comparatively lower levels. Poland demonstrates the strongest improvement over time.
Trends indicate overall progress between 2004 and 2019, a decline during the COVID-19 period, and partial recovery thereafter. Age-related disparities are evident, with older individuals more likely to experience lower well-being.
These findings underscore the role of multidimensional approaches in capturing inequalities in well-being across populations and contexts.

[Download the paper]

• Tollosa DN, Cederstrom A, Sonnewald D, Morawski L, Brzezinski M, Rostila M, Katikireddi VS, Niedzwiedz CL, Kopasker D, Richiardi M (2026). Intersectional Inequalities in Subjective Well-Being Across Four European Countries: A Cross-national MAIHDA Study.

This empirical study examines intersectional inequalities in subjective well-being across four European countries ─ Sweden, Germany, Spain, and Poland ─ using EU-SILC cross-sectional survey data spanning 2004–2024. Intersectional inequality was assessed using the MAIHDA framework, with strata defined by gender (men; women), age (16-29; 30-44; 45-64; 65-80), income quartile (Q1─Q4), education level (ISCED 0-2; ISCED 3─4; ISCED 5+), and migration background (Natives; EU migrants; non-EU migrants).
The findings show that predicted mean LS is highest in Poland and lowest in Germany. Between-stratum variation accounts for approximately 5–7% of the total variance in life satisfaction, suggesting that most differences are explained by additive effects of socio-demographic characteristics. However, the explanatory power of these factors varies across countries and is notably lower in Sweden, with about 40% of the variance remaining unexplained compared to 10–15% in other countries. Income and age, and ─ except in Sweden ─ education, explain the largest share of between-stratum variance in life satisfaction, whereas gender and migration background. Although intersectional patterns i.e., strata with significantly lower- or higher-than-expected LS, vary by countries, likely reflecting differences in institutional and welfare contexts ─ groups with lower-than-expected LS were typically characterized by combinations of low income, lower education, and working-age status. Highly educated non-EU migrants, particularly in Sweden and Germany, also report significantly lower-than-expected life satisfaction.
Overall, Intersectional inequalities in LS are modest but important for identifying vulnerable groups and are primarily explained by income, age, and education (with weaker effects in Sweden). Intersectional patterns vary across countries, however; groups characterized by low-income, lower-education, and working-age status are consistently associated with lower-than-expected LS.