Subjective Well-Being in Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia – Rural-Urban Differences and Cross-National Comparison

The importance of measuring subjective aspects of well-being for a more accurate assessment of the quality of life has been increasingly recognized in theory and empirical studies. In this paper; we analyze and compare subjective well-being (SWB) in rural and urban areas of four countries in the post-Yugoslav space that were included in Round 9 (2018) of the European Social Survey (ESS); two members of the European Union (EU); Croatia and Slovenia; and two non-EU countries; Montenegro and Serbia. We have constructed the Subjective Well-being Index (SWI) based on available ESS items; as a more concise version of VanderWeele’s Flourishing Index (2017). Our SWI consists of three domains: (1) happiness and life satisfaction; (2) mental and physical health; and (3) financial and material stability. Results indicate that; regardless of the settlement type; the respondents from two EU countries have a higher perceived SWI than those from two non-EU countries. Rural-urban differences were found in all four countries; with urban respondents scoring significantly higher on the SWI than their rural counterparts. This research fills the gap in SWB literature in these countries and their rural and urban areas; as well as offers a new comparative insight between them.