Quality of life and living conditions in the Netherlands

Abstract

The four planning offices in the Netherlands form a network which covers all areas of government. This network matches with the policy-structure in Dutch administration. One of the planning offices, the Social and Cultural Planning Office (SCP), studies social and cultural aspects. Most of the SCP publications deal with several different aspects of the living conditions. As an integrative tool the SCP developed an overall monitoring instrument: the living conditions index (LCI). The LCI measures aspects of individual living conditions and is composed of indicators from eight areas: housing, health, leisure activity, ownership of consumer durables, sport activity, vacation, social participation and mobility. Education, income and paid employment are considered as resources and are used to describe the backgrounds of living conditions. Not only developments in living conditions for the Netherlands as a whole are monitored, but for various groups in society as well. Is the LCI useful for policy (makers)?