Urban-Rural Differences in Life Satisfaction

Abstract

Abstract International research has shown that residents in urban versus rural areas differ concerning their satisfaction in life. Researchers agree upon the relevance of economic aspects for explaining urban-rural satisfaction levels: life satisfaction is dependent on income levels and rural habitants usually have lower income levels and lower levels of life satisfaction internationally. However, there is a lot of variation unexplained: in several studies, researchers found that in some countries rural residents are unexpectedly more satisfied with their lives than their economic and objective life situation would suggest (e.g. in China, Thailand, and in Western European, post-communist, Anglo-Saxon, and Latin American countries). Some researchers argue that cultural and social aspects, in addition to economic aspects, are better to explain urban-rural differences in life satisfaction. The author will extend this research by focusing on cultural factors in relation to Cultural World Regions. In addition, she will use newer data from the World Values Survey and the World Bank. The guiding questions are 1) how relevant are economic-materialistic aspects for life satisfaction? And 2) in how far are there differences between cultural world regions, such as East and Central Asia, Western and post-communist Europe, Latin America, Anglo-Saxon countries, and Arabic and Sub-Saharan Africa?