Socio-Economic Determinants Of Well-Being Of Urban Households: A Case Of Sri Lanka

The social-economic and environment factors have shown direct effect to the well-being of individuals and communities. The aim of this paper is to examine the determinants of well-being of urban households in Sri Lanka. The sample of the study consisted with randomly selected 132 household heads from Matale municipal area, Central Province in Sri Lanka. A structured questionnaire and interviews were used to collect data from respondents. Descriptive statistical methods and logistic regression model were used to identify factors affecting household’s wellbeing. Three separate regressions are estimated for general happiness, feeling of prosperous household, and satisfaction with the living environment. The results of logistic regression for general happiness reveals that savings with the formal financial sector, participation in the community activities, and network with outside community have a positive and significant effect on well-being of households. Besides this individual’s feeling of their prosperousness discloses that savings with the formal financial sector and networks with outside community have a positive effect on well-being of individuals. At the same time, participating in community activities, membership in community associations and networks with outside community were identified as significant factors of general satisfaction of people living in urban areas. In addition, socio demographic factors used in this study have shown insignificant effect on all aspects of the well-being. Promotion programmes on household savings and social capital in community and regional levels are suggested to improve the well-being of the people who are living in city areas of the country.