Public services – key factor to quality of life

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how public services can contribute to enhancing quality of life. We try to answer three research questions: Which are the relevant economic and social aspects that need to be taken into account when we want to measure quality of life? Which services of general interest have the most significant impact on life satisfaction? What is the role of human resources in improving the quality of public services and, through them, the quality of life? To achieve the research objectives several statistical indicators were selected and nonparametric correlation method was applied. Statistical analysis refers to 15 European Union Member States belonging to different social models. One of the main findings is the fact that health services and services for elderly seem to have the most significant impact on life satisfaction. These findings draw attention to the recent social and demographic trends in all member states. In this context, public policies should be mainly targeted to solve elderly problems and, not ultimately, to find the best ways to use their potential on the labour market, given the increased phenomenon of demographic aging and the drop in active population number.