Life in Europe is just better

Today is my last post before my usual extended summer break. I will be back in late August. But before I go, let me get under the skin of my American readers somewhat (and know that I love you all, particularly my American wife, and this is all in good fun).

Throughout the spring, Paul Krugman went on a bit of a crusade to argue that the standard of living in the US is not better than in Europe and that Europe did not fall behind in the last decade or two in terms of living standards.

As a proud European, I agree with what Krugman said on this topic. The key argument is that GDP per capita expressed in US dollars is a stupid and highly misleading measure of living standard. I have addressed this at length in this post and will skip that bit today.

Instead, I want to point your attention to a study by the European Commission that compares broader metrics of well-being in the US and the EU. Yes, I can hear American readers complain that this is just a bunch of motivated reasoning, and naturally, the European Commission would come up with a study that shows that well-being in Europe is better than in the US.

I will contemplate this criticism during my two weeks of holidays in a European country, enjoying the food, nature and local culture. And when I am back, I might respond to it while looking forward to my remaining three weeks of vacation time left in 2026.

The European Commission looked beyond GDP and productivity alone and included measures of well-being, which include a range of indicators from real disposable income, the affordability of houses and employment rates, to such things as access to healthcare, pollution and self-reported life satisfaction. This broader measure of wellbeing increased by 9.5% between 2014 and 2025, while in the US it only increased by 1.2%.

Wellbeing in the EU and the US

Source: Benczur et al. (2026)

Then they went a step further and broadened the wellbeing indicator to a total of 42 indicators, including those that cover resources for the future, economic resilience, inequality and quality of institutions.

This index of sustainable and inclusive wellbeing rose by 4% in the EU since 2010 but declined by 0.5% in the US.

Sustainable and inclusive wellbeing in the EU and the US

Source: Benczur et al. (2026)

So, let me finish by posting here a meme that has made the rounds this year that compares the UK (which clearly has a lot of issues) with the US on a range of economic and well-being metrics.

Enjoy August, everyone.