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Welcome to the Quality of Life in Spain Survey 2026


By taking part in this survey, you will help to improve the quality of life in Spain and across Europe. Your answers will provide the evidence to develop better policies in areas like the cost of living, access to good quality housing, and affordable health and childcare.

A trained survey representative from Ipsos will visit your home. They will carry official identification and can arrange a time that suits you. Depending on the setup, they will either conduct the interview with you or provide a tablet so you can complete the questionnaire yourself. The survey takes about 30 minutes to complete.

For more information about the survey, please see the tab.

For information about how we protect your privacy and data, please see the tab.

The Quality of Life Survey 2026

The survey is being carried out by Ipsos, an independent research agency, on behalf of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).

This survey aims to understand how people live in Spain, including health and wellbeing, housing, work and access to public services. It also explores how people connect with their communities and government, and how they use the internet. The survey helps gather information to shape policies to improve people’s living conditions and quality of life.

Data from previous rounds of the survey has contributed to…

  • The development of new EU laws that grant fathers at least 10 days of paid paternity leave to be by their newborn's side.
  • The creation of EU laws that grant equal parental leave for both mothers and fathers, fostering shared caregiving.
  • EU laws that ensure that workers can take days off to support sick or dependent family members.
  • Helping shape a new EU law that gives parents and carers more support to balance work and family life.
  • Improved EU policies that increase young people’s access to education and training in rural areas, and boost entrepreneurship.
  • The improvement of digital connectivity in remote areas.
  • Improved employment in economically disadvantaged or geographically isolated places.
  • Providing evidence to help policymakers develop the 2021-2030 European Disability Strategy.
  • Ensuring that societal progress is no longer solely measured by economic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but also by indicators that measure societal well-being.

On this Page:

Who is carrying out the survey?

The survey is being carried out by Ipsos, an independent research agency, on behalf of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound).

About Eurofound:

Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, is the tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment, and occupational policies. Their mission is to provide information to help develop better social, employment and work-related policies. You can find more information about Eurofound here

About Ipsos:

Ipsos is one of the world's leading research companies delivering reliable information for a true understanding of society, markets and people, to help the world make better decisions. You can find more information about Ipsos here

What is the survey about?

The Quality of Life Survey 2026 aims to understand how people live in Spain and in other European countries, including health and wellbeing, housing, work and access to public services. It also explores how people connect with their communities and government, and how they use the internet. The survey helps gather information to shape policies to improve people’s living conditions and quality of life.

Why has my household been chosen?

It is not possible to invite everyone in Spain to take part, so we have selected a sample of households, completely at random, to represent Spain. Only one adult aged 16 or over from your household can be interviewed and they cannot be replaced by anyone else.

How will the survey results be used?

By taking part, you will help to improve the quality of life in Spain and across Europe. Your answers will provide the evidence to develop better policies in areas like the cost of living, access to good quality housing, and affordable health- and childcare. Did you know that data from the Quality of Life Survey have contributed to:

  • Social progress no longer being measured solely by economic indicators such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but also by improvements in social well-being.
  • Enabling parents and caregivers to request flexible working arrangements to balance work and family life.
  • Significantly improved accessibility to services and infrastructure for people with disabilities.

How to take part?

Trained survey representatives from Ipsos will visit every household selected to invite them to participate. They will select one adult (aged 16 years or older) to complete the interview.

When does the survey close?

The survey will be open for a limited time. We recommend completing it promptly after being contacted to ensure your voice has been heard. Thank you for your participation!

How long does it take to complete the survey?

The survey takes around 30 minutes to complete.

How do I get my voucher?

Everyone who completes the survey will receive a €15 gift card as a thank you for their time.

How can I get support on a topic mentioned in the Quality of Life survey?

If you have been affected by any of the topics mentioned in the Quality of Life survey, do not hesitate to seek professional support. A list of support services in your country can be found here.

Your privacy

Taking part in this survey is voluntary. All the information you provide will be treated as strictly confidential. Your answers will be kept separate from your personal details and will only be used for statistical purposes. The only exception to this is if you provide explicit consent to be recontacted for future research. No individual will ever be identified in the results. Our work is conducted under the strict confidentiality rules of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). A full Privacy Policy, setting out your rights, is available on the or on request.

Contact Us

Answers to the most frequently asked questions about this survey can be .

If you require further help or information, or wish to opt out of further communications about this survey, please contact the EQLS Survey Helpline using the form below and we will get back to you as quickly as possible:

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DATA PROTECTION NOTICE

for the 2026 European Quality of Life Survey

Last updated: 14 October 2025

As an EU Agency, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions1 (or Eurofound) embraces the need to protect your personal data. We, therefore, undertake to process it, as data controller, with respect to the applicable law2.

If after reading this notice you still have questions or doubts on the processing of your data, please contact us at dataprotectionofficer@eurofound.europa.eu. We will reply to you as soon as we can but always within one month.

What is the European Quality of Life Survey?

The European Quality of Life Survey (or EQLS) started in 2003, and this is its fifth edition. The survey covers a broad range of aspects around the topic of quality of life, such as wellbeing, housing, family life, work-life balance, healthcare, financial security, and social participation. Altogether, over 30,000 people in Europe will be interviewed.

The data collected will provide invaluable, up-to-date, and objective information for policy makers and researchers about these issues in Spain and across Europe, to help improve quality of life for everyone. The first results from this study will be available in 2027.

For further information about the EQLS, please read here

Who is responsible for the survey?

Eurofound acts as data controller and is responsible for the 2026 EQLS. Nevertheless, the EQLS will be carried out by IPSOS3, on behalf of Eurofound.

IPSOS is a market research company which adheres to highest ethical standards and professional codes of conduct, including the WAPOR4 and ESOMAR5.

How have I been chosen?

You have been randomly selected as part of a rigorous scientific process so that we can speak to a representative sample of all people aged 16 and over in your country’s population. Everyone who has been invited to take part, including you, has a known, non-zero probability of being selected. The random sample has been drawn either using a register of individuals or of households, or based on enumeration, depending on the country.

What personal data will be collected?

The following data will be processed:

  • your email address or postal address, gender and age will be processed in order to invite you to participate in the survey;
  • any personal data which you may provide while answering the survey which focus on the different aspects of quality of life, including (i) your self-perceived wellbeing, (ii) your family situation, (iii) your housing situation, and (iv) your social life;
  • data on your subjective health status as well as your country of birth;
  • information on whether or not you have voted in the last parliamentary elections. Please note that factual information on who you voted for will NOT be collected;
  • your name and email address if you consent to be re-contacted for follow-up research and provide these in order to receive the incentive payment;
  • any information that you provide by filling in forms on our website, including when reporting a problem with our website;
  • any information you provide us, including correspondence, when you contact us;

Please be informed that if you provide your name and contact details for follow-up purposes, these will be linked with your answers. If you do not provide them, your answers to this survey will be anonymous and it will be impossible for Eurofound and/or IPSOS to identify you, directly or indirectly, from them. In any case, we would like to clarify that the results of the research will be anonymised (i.e., statistical information only), and you will NOT be identifiable, directly or indirectly, in any published results.

What is the legal basis for processing your personal data?

Eurofound works to help EU legislators shape better social, employment, and work-related policies across the EU. The EQLS supports this goal by providing robust, people-centred evidence that helps Eurofound, and the wider EU policy community, develop fairer, more responsive policies aimed at improving quality of life across Europe.

In this context, the processing of personal data required for the successfully completing the EQLS is necessary for the performance of tasks which have been entrusted to Eurofound under its Founding Regulations6, and which are carried out in the public interest7, in particular the development of social and employment policies that improve quality of life across the EU.

Processing of health data and data relating to your country of birth are justified for scientific research purposes8. Any additional processing of your personal data (e.g., follow-up purposes) will be done only if you have given your consent9.

With regard to any data which you provide when contacting us (e.g., when exercising your data protection rights), it is necessary to comply with the legal obligation to answer your request10.

Please note that no automated decision-making takes place in this context.

Who will process your data?

Your data will be processed exclusively by staff members assigned to Eurofound’s Research Units on a need-to-know basis, as well as to duly authorised staff members of IPSOS, whose staff, in the performance of their duties, abide by statutory or contractual confidentiality obligations.

For how long will your personal data be kept?

The following retention periods apply:

  • Personal data will be retained for 12 months after the end of the project (i.e., until June 2028).
  • Should you have agreed to be re-contacted for further research, your name and contact details will be kept for two years from the date you provided these details.

Once retention periods have been reached, personal data will be disposed of in ways that ensure their confidential nature is not compromised.

How is your personal data protected?

Several security controls have been put in place to protect your personal data from unauthorised access, use or disclosure. Thus, your data will be stored on computer systems, located in the European Union, with access permitted uniquely for authorised staff.

Your responses will be stored separately from your personal information and will be used solely for research purposes.

Your participation, together with your individual responses to the questions, will be kept strictly confidential. The results of the research will be anonymised, statistical information only and you will not be identifiable in any published results.

Moreover, IPSOS aligns its working practices to the internationally agreed standards on international market research quality standard (ISO20252), international standard for quality management systems (ISO 9001) and international standard for information security management (ISO 27001).

Do we transfer your data to outside the EU?

All personal data will be processed within the EU or within the European Economic Area (EEA).

What are your rights?

Within the limits set by the EUDPR, you have the right to access, rectify, erase and/or port your personal data, to restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, and to withdraw your consent (if obtained). Just note that withdrawal of your consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing while your consent was valid.

To exercise the above rights, please write to EQLS26@eurofound.europa.eu. Your request is free of charge. However, if it is manifestly unfounded or excessive, Eurofound, as data controller, may refuse to act on it.

You also have the right to raise a complaint with the European Data Protection Supervisor should you consider that the processing of your personal data is in violation of the law. You will find more information here: https://edps.europa.eu/data-protection/our-role-supervisor/complaints/edps-complaint-form_en.

Notification of Material Changes

We reserve the right to occasionally update or change this notice to reflect changes in the processing. We encourage you to periodically review this notice to be informed of how we are processing and protecting your personal information.

Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this survey are welcomed and should be addressed to the EQLS Project Team, EQLS26@eurofound.europa.eu.

1 You can find more information on Eurofound, including our contact details, here.

2 Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data (or the EUDPR).

3 The contract is held by IPSOS NV, which is registered under Belgian law. You can find more information on IPSOS, including its contact details here.

4 More information can be found here: https://wapor.org/.

5 More information can be found here: https://esomar.org/code-and-guidelines/icc-esomar-code.

6 Regulation (EU) 2019/127 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 January 2019 establishing the European Foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions (Eurofound), and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1365/75, in particular Articles 1 and 2.

7 Article 5(1)(a) of the EUDPR.

8 Article 10(2)(j) of the EUDPR

9 Article 5(1)(d) of the EUDPR.

10 Article 5(1)(b) of the EUDPR.