2072-64142411-140610.17059/ekon.reg.2023-3-16Quality of Life in Portuguese Municipalities: A Multidimensional ApproachКачество жизни в муниципалитетах Португалии: комплексный подходhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4289-9312DionísioAndreiaДионисио Андреа andreia@uevora.pthttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1257-412XRegoMaria ConceiçãoРего Мария Консейсан mcpr@uevora.pthttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3238-0354SequeiraTeresaСекейраТереза tsequeir@utad.ptUniversity of ÉvoraУниверситет ЭворыUniversity of Trás-os-Montes and Alto DouroУниверситет Трас-ос-Монтес и Альто-Дору193828843Copyright © 2023 Дионисио Андреа , Рего Мария Консейсан , Секейра Тереза 2023Дионисио Андреа , Рего Мария Консейсан , Секейра Тереза CC BY 4.0https://www.economyofregions.org/ojs/index.php/er/article/view/249https://www.economyofregions.org/ojs/index.php/er/article/download/249/235

The estimation of the level of development of a territory is an issue that has had different approaches and methodologies. If the first attempts were associated with determining the income generated and retained by the territory, the most recent indicators of quality of life or well-being are based on a multidimensional concept, improved by adding other dimensions including several variables. On the other hand, despite the statistical difficulties, analysis of smaller geographic units is closer to reality, allowing researchers to draw relevant and effective final considerations. Focusing on the case of Portugal mainland, an old country with strong and persistent development asymmetries, this work sought to examine the similarities and differences in various dimensions of the concept of quality of life, in the positioning of the chosen territorial units, the municipalities. Then, after collecting recent annual variables at the municipality level, data were processed using multivariate analysis. The construction of clusters revealed affinities between the municipalities. The results obtained show the asymmetries of development and well-being in the national territory, and their disaggregation, both in terms of the multiple dimensions under analysis and in terms of the municipalities. The study offers a greater and deeper understanding of the regional reality and consequently can favour the efficiency of cohesion policies.

Существует множество подходов и методологий оценки уровня развития территорий. Первоначально для его определения использовались только экономические показатели, такие как доходы, полученные на данной территории. В настоящее время для исследования качества жизни или благополучия населения применяется комплексный подход, включающий несколько переменных. Несмотря на трудности с получением статистической информации, именно анализ более мелких географических единиц позволяет увидеть реальную картину развития территории, а также сделать соответствующие выводы. Объектом настоящего исследования стала континентальная Португалия — государство, характеризующееся существенной асимметрией развития. Анализ различных показателей качества жизни продемонстрировал сходства и различия в развитии выбранных территориальных единиц — муниципалитетов. Для оценки данных за год на уровне муниципалитетов был применен метод многомерного анализа. Выявленные кластеры отражают сходство между муниципалитетами. Полученные результаты свидетельствуют о неравномерном развитии страны, определяющем качество жизни населения, а также демонстрируют различия кластеров как по многочисленным анализируемым показателям, так и по муниципалитетам. Поскольку исследование предлагает более глубокое понимание регионального развития, содержащиеся в работе выводы могут быть использованы для совершенствования политики сплочения.

quality of lifewell-beingterritorial asymmetryregional developmentmultivariate approachcluster analysisкачество жизниблагосостояниетерриториальная асимметриярегиональное развитиекомплексный подходкластерный анализ

The article has been prepared with the support of the national funds, through the FCT — Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UIDB/04007/2020 and project UIDB/04011/2020.

Статья подготовлена при поддержке Португальского фонда науки и техники, проект UIDB/04007/2020 и проект UIDB/04011/2020.

Amado, C. A. F., Barreira, A. P., Santos, S. P. & Guimarães, M. H. (2019). Comparing the quality of life of cities that gained and lost population: An assessment with DEA and the Malmquist index. Regional Science, 98(5), 2075-2097. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/pirs.12448Calcagnini, G. & Perugini, F. (2019). Social capital and well-being in the Italian provinces. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 68, 100668. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2018.11.005Carrasco-Campos, Á., Moreno, A. & Martínez, L. (2017). Quality of Life, Well-Being and Social Policies in European Countries. In: Quality of Life and Quality of Working Life. InTech Open. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5772/68003Christodoulou, A., Blioumis, V., Stamatellos, G. & Menexes, G. (2008). Nature and quality of life: the case of Kolindros, prefecture of Pieria, Greece. An application of multidimensional data analysis methods. New Medit, 2, 57-63.Dardha, E. & Rogge, N. (2020). How’s Life in Your Region? Measuring Regional Material Living Conditions, Quality of Life and Subjective Well-Being in OECD Countries Using a Robust, Conditional Benefit-of-the-Doubt Model. Social Indicators Research, 151(3), 1015-1073. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02411-xDiniz, F. & Sequeira, T. (2008). A social and economic development index — NUTS ranking in Portugal. Interações, 9(1), 19-28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1518-70122008000100003 (In Port.)Dionísio, A. & Rego, C. (2020). Quality of Life — Urban versus Rural analysis based on fuzzy sets approach. In: V. Andersen (Ed.), An Introduction to Fuzzy Sets. Nova Science Publishers.Ehrlich, J., Medcalfe, S. & Sanders, S. (2021). Composite Index Ranking of Economic Well-Being in U.S. Metropolitan Areas: How Prevalent are Rank Anomalies? Social Indicators Research, 157(2), 543-562. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02673-zGoletsis, Y. & Chletsos, M. (2011). Measurement of development and regional disparities in Greek periphery: A multivariate approach. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 45(4), 174–183. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seps.2011.06.002. Gonzalez, E., Carcaba, A., Ventura, J. & Garcia, J. (2011). Measuring Quality of Life in Spanish Municipalities. Local Government Studies, 37(2), 171-197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2011.554826Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J. & Anderson, R. E. (2014). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed.). Prentice Hall, 816. Landeiro, G. M. B., Pedrozo, C. C. R., Gomes, M. J. & Oliveira, E. R. de A. (2011). Systematic review of studies on quality of life indexed on the SciELO database. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 16(10), 4257–4266. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-81232011001100031 (In Port.)Maricic, M. (2019). Assessing the quality of life in the European Union: The European Index of Life Satisfaction (EILS). Statistical Journal of the IAOS, 35(2), 261–267. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3233/SJI-180481Oliveira Martins, J. (2021). Regional policy narratives and the ‘geographies of discontent’. Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 14, 625–629. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsab024Özgür, A. & Aylin, Ç. Ç (2011). Quality of Life in Ageing Societies: Italy, Portugal, and Turkey. Educational Gerontology, 37(11), 945–966. DOI: 10.1080/03601277.2010.492730Pinto, H. & Guerreiro, J. (2010). Innovation regional planning and latent dimensions: the case of the Algarve region. Annals of Regional Science, 44(2), 315–329. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-008-0264-5Rego, C. & Baltazar, M. S. (2011). Interactions between the local and the global: the perspective of territorial development. In: M. S. Baltazar, C. Rego (Eds.), Globalização e Desenvolvimento [Globalization and Development] (pp. 11-36). Lisboa: Caleidoscópio. (In Port.)Rego, C., Ramos, I. J., Lucas, M. R., Baltazar, M. S. & Dionísio, A. (2021). New geography in old territories: a multivariate approach based on Portuguese regions. Regional Studies, Regional Science, 8(1), 25–50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2020.1860807Rodríguez-Pose, A. (2018). The revenge of the places that don’t matter (and what to do about it). Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 11(1), 189–209. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsx024Saha, S., Basu, S. & Pandit, D. (2020). Identifying Factors Influencing Perceived Quality of Life (QoL) of Indian Elderly: Case Study of Kolkata, India. Social Indicators Research, 160, 867–907. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-020-02493-7Shams, K. & Kadow, A. (2019). The Relationship Between Subjective Well-Being and Work–Life Balance Among Labourers in Pakistan. Journal of Family & Economic Issues, 40(4), 681–690. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-019-09631-5Shi, T., Zhu, W. & Fu, S. (2021). Quality of life in Chinese cities. China Economic Review, 69, 101682. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2021.101682Silva Ferentz, L. M., Mello Garcias, C. & Ferreira Setim, L. C. (2020). Proposal for an indicator of sustainable development based on quality of life, welfare and happiness: a pilot study in Curitiba city, Brasil. Análise Social [Social Analysis], LV(1), 168-192. DOI: https://doi.org/10.31447/as00032573.2020234.07 (In Port.)Soares, J. O., Marquês, M. M. L. & Monteiro, C. M. F. (2003). A multivariate methodology to uncover regional disparities: A contribution to improve European Union and governmental decisions. European Journal of Operational Research, 145(1), 121–135. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(02)00146-7Stiglitz, J. E., Fitoussi, J.-P. & Durand, M. (Eds.). (2018). Beyond GDP: Measuring what counts for economic and social performance. Paris: OECD Publishing, 144. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264307292-enStiglitz, J. E., Sen, A. & Fitoussi, J.-P. (2009). Report of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. Paris: Institutnational de la statistique et des études économiques, 292.