The societal quality of southern European Mediterranean countries

Abstract

On the basis of extensive empirical data that the 72 focused composite indicators, making up the System of Indices on the Quality of European Societies (SIQES), provide on the 28 EU Member States, this paper analyses the societal quality of the Southern European Mediterranean countries, namely, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece, from a holistic, multidimensional and comparative perspective. First and foremost, it indicates the position of these Mediterranean countries in the European societal quality rankings. Secondly, after confirming that, in accordance with the Five Europes Typology, the Mediterranean countries form a distinctive cluster, it includes an analysis of their social characteristics, comparing them with those of the other four clusters. Thirdly, on the basis of the 14 societal quality domains included in the system, it offers a diagnosis by contrasting the societal quality of the Southern European Mediterranean countries with that of the rest of the EU Member States. This structural diagnosis, endogenous as well exogenous, offers a panoramic view of great importance to both social researchers and policymakers.