Living Situation Index – Update 2019

In 2019, WIFO developed the "Living Situation Index" for the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism as part of the evaluation of the Austrian Rural Development Programme 2014-2020. For the first time, this index quantitatively maps the living conditions at the small-scale level in the 2,122 residential municipalities in Austria for the period 2010 to 2017 by bundling the factors influencing living conditions, such as income, employment, age and qualification, into one index. The Living Situation Index provides indications of different living conditions between urban and rural regions or densely and sparsely populated areas as well as within rural regions, as the view of the peripheral rural regions on the one hand and the central rural areas surrounding centres on the other hand shows. The update for the year 2019 represents the situation and a basis for comparison with a regional reference immediately before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020.