Quality of life in a city: The effect of population density

There exist a number of concepts and operational definitions of quality of life. In the present study the aim has been to develop a comprehensive, global index of quality of life, and relate the sub-indexes and global index to various socio-demographic variables, somatic health and density of population in the residential area. The sample consisted of 2066 individuals between 18 and 65 years old from the common population. Seven sub-indexes were developed. They constituted one factor with moderate intercorrelations between the sub-indexes. Good somatic health, living in a stable relationship with a partner, preferably married, in a less densely populated area, having a good education, a good income and being a younger female were the independent statistical determinants of global quality of life. However, various sub-indexes were related to different socio-demographic variables. Age was oppositely related to different sub-indexes. The study shows the importance of what type of quality of life is investigated. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the effect of population density on quality of life.