Quality of Life in Cities survey

The Quality of Life in Cities survey gathers resident opinions on various aspects of life in their city, e.g., satisfaction with educational facilities, health care services, urban planning (green and public spaces, sport and cultural facilities). It also helps to find out the main modes of transport used, whether people feel safe in their city and trust in local police, as well as whether they are satisfied with the work of the local public administration and public transport.

The survey is co-funded by the EU, and its results provide insight into the extent to which statistics on cities collected by the EU countries coincide with the opinions of the city residents.

Data for Riga are collected by the European Commission Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy. A common questionnaire is used across all EU countries and also serves as the basis for the national survey conducted in State cities.

Inhabitant of Latvia aged 15 and over living in private households.

Inhabitants of Latvia aged 15 and over living in private households and actually residing in one of the State cities.

• In 2025, the Quality of Life in Cities survey in Latvia was conducted on the basis of Grant Agreement No 101145748-2023-LV-CITY, concluded between the European Commission and the Central Statistical Bureau, pursuant to Section 8, paragraph two, Clause 1 of the Statistics Law.
• In 2022, the Quality of Life in Cities survey in Latvia was conducted on the basis of Grant Agreement No 101052279-2021-LV-CITY, concluded between the European Commission and Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, pursuant to Section 8, paragraph two, Clause 1 of the Statistics Law.
• In 2017, the Quality of Life in Cities survey was conducted on the basis of Grant Agreement No 08141.2015.002-2015.613 concluded between the European Commission and Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia.
• The Eurostat survey, which also covered the State city of Riga, was conducted pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet).

Statistics database

Results of the Quality of Life in European Cities survey are available in the Eurostat database General and regional statistics/City statistics/Perception survey results.

Results from the 2025 and 2022 surveys are partially comparable with the 2017 survey results.

Results from the 2023 survey in Riga are comparable with the 2019 survey results.

N/A

The data are collected in the Quality of Life in Cities survey. Respondents are asked about satisfaction with health care, public transport, cultural facilities, green spaces, safety in the city, work of local public administration, main modes of transport, etc.

Administrative data sources are not used. However, administrative registers are used to support survey implementation. Household addresses for telephone and face-to-face interviews are obtained from the Address Register of the State Land Service. Information on names and surnames of respondents is drawn from the Population Register of the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs. Respondent telephone numbers are obtained from the Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs, State Revenue Service, Road Traffic Safety Directorate, State Employment Agency, and electronic communications service provider Tele2.

Sample design

The sample design is a two-stage systematic sample.

In the first stage, the sampling frame consists of buildings, stratified by State city. Prior to systematic selection, the frame of buildings is arranged using a tool based on the Travelling Salesman Problem, with the aim of achieving an even spatial distribution within each state city.

In the second stage, the sampling frame consists of dwellings belonging to the buildings selected in the first stage. Dwellings are stratified by State city (except for Riga).

The sampling unit in the first stage is the building, and in the second stage the dwelling.

Sampling frame

Sample size for nine State cities

Eurostat sample size for Riga

Data from the Quality of Life in Cities survey are extrapolated to all private households and their household members.

Sampling design weights were calculated as the inverse of the inclusion probability.

Once the survey results were available, the design weights were adjusted for actual response and calibrated to total population and breakdowns by sex, age group, and State city.