Spatial dependence multilevel model of well-being across regions in Europe

• We examine the spatial and nested structures of well-being across regions in Europe.
• We find spatial variations of well-being across regions in Europe.
• Regional variations of well-being is non-negligible.
• Well-being across region in Europe is spatially dependent through unobserved factors.
• Spatial dependence multilevel model can improve estimates in explaining well-being.

Understanding geographical perspective in explaining well-being is among the important issue in the subject. This study examines how nested and spatial structures explain variations in individual well-being across regions in Europe. We use the 2008 European Values Study, comprising 23,483 respondents residing in 200 regions (NUTS2) in Europe. Using spatial dependence multilevel model, the results show well-being to be spatially dependent through unobserved factors, meaning that well-being clusters because of clustering of unobserved factors. These findings suggest that addressing unobserved factors in neighbouring regions is an important issue for understanding individual well-being.