Identify factors that affect urban quality of life: a case study in zone towns of Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

Genanew Timerga, Debre Berhan University

Quality of life (QoL) is important tool for policy evaluation, rating of cities, urban planning and management. This study was conducted in selected zone towns of Amhara Region Ethiopia, aimed to identify factor affecting QoL. A total of 809 households were selected based on stratified sampling with proportion. The analysis revealed that 6 dimensions of QoL were extracted from 20 subjective attributes; housing, economic, environmental, neighborhood safety and security, social connectedness and quality of public service. Binary and ordinal logistic regression model showed all of the dimensions are positively and significantly related with QoL. Factor analysis extracted 6 factors using 15 objective attribute; socioeconomic, access to public service, access to education, housing, religion and length of residency are found to be significant predictor of QoL. Religion and length of residence have positive impact and other have negative contribution to QoL. Key words Subjective, Objective, Ordinal regression, QoL, Factor analysis