Unequal cities,unhappy lives? The role of interpersonal and territorial inequalities in shaping life satisfaction in European cities

Abstract

This article examines how interpersonal and territorial inequalities shape life satisfaction across European cities. While prior research has typically focused on one type of inequality or on national/regional scales, we analyze both dimensions simultaneously at the city level, addressing a key research gap. We test the hypothesis that interpersonal inequalities have a stronger negative association with life satisfaction than territorial inequalities, as they trigger more immediate social comparison processes and perceptions of unfairness. By contrast, territorial disparities, which capture broader economic and sociodemographic differences between cities, may be less perceptible in residents’ daily experiences and thus exert weaker effects on subjective well-being (SWB). Our study also advances beyond conventional economic indicators by using a novel SWB-based inequality measure, capturing dimensions that standard economic metrics may overlook. Using microdata from the Quality of Life in European Cities survey (2012–2023) and contextual statistics for 75 cities, we estimate multilevel models to disentangle these effects. Results reveal a strong negative association between interpersonal inequality and average city life satisfaction, while no significant relationship is found for territorial disparities. These findings highlight the primacy of interpersonal comparisons within urban contexts and challenge assumptions about the geographic dimension of inequality in shaping well-being.