Air Quality, Health and Life Satisfaction.

Patrick Montanari , University of Trento
Valeria Ferraretto , University of Trento
Agnese Vitali , University of Trento

Air pollution has a negative impact on one’s life conditions: living in unhealthy environments, along with other factors, may result in lower life satisfaction and consequently impact on one’s subjective wellbeing and health conditions on the long term. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the presence of a positive correlation between air quality and individual life satisfaction in two main areas: social life (based on interactions with others, close or distant) and self-evaluation (for example, success and gratification from professional life, appreciation of the surroundings) using data at the regional and country level. These two aspects will be examined taking into consideration a few socio-demographic parameters (reported health status, city size, age, gender, and total net income). This study is based on the sixth round of the European Social Survey conducted in 2012, with air condition measurements gathered from air quality reports by the EEA (European Environment Agency) in the same period, using the NUTS subdivision of member countries. According to the initial hypothesis there should be a negative association between health conditions and intensity of air pollution, which determines a negative outlook on life. Due to the absence of previous studies concerning this interaction, it is necessary to raise awareness around it. The main purpose of this paper is to provide scientific evidence of this phenomenon, in order to better understand its severity and determine how to counter it by implementing effective measures.

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 Presented in Session 34. Climate Change, Air Pollution and Health