Ana Cárcaba, Francisco J. Delgado, Eduardo González, Maria J. Presno

Convergence in social well-being: Are Spanish regions closing the gap?

The literature on Quality of Life (QoL) and Subjective Well Being (SWB) highlights the idea that economic indicators, such as GDP, do not provide an accurate account of the real progress of societies. We study the evolution of social progress through several social indicators for the 17 Spanish regions during the period 2008-2020. In searching for patterns of convergence, we apply the club convergence approach. The data available point to the existence of three clubs for the indicators considered: material conditions and QoL. Therefore, there are no signs of global convergence. The analysis of the data also reveals that some of the richest regions in terms of GDP (Madrid and Cataluña), achieve only moderate results in terms of quality of life. Some policy recommendations arise from comparing the evolution of well-being and GDP per capita.

 

Keywords: Quality of life; subjective well-being; convergence; Spain

To cite this article

Cárcaba, A. ; Delgado, F. ; González, E. ; Presno, M. (2025). Convergence in social well-being: Are Spanish regions closing the gap?. Investigaciones Regionales - Journal of Regional Research, , .