The cultural distance indices were calculated based on the ESS/EVS-based indicators of cultural dimensions created by Kaasa et al. (2014) by applying confirmatory factor analysis on the indicators chosen from the European Social Survey (ESS) and the European Values Study (EVS) based on Hofstede’s (2001) overview of the characteristics and differences of dimension extremes. The dataset is introduced here wiht the description of initial data and methodology.

The ESS and the EVS include questions pertaining to all four cultural dimensions considered in this dataset. The two surveys are similar in the number of respondents and both surveys provide weights that we use in the present study to ensure that the regional-level data represent the demographic structure of a region. The data for the year 2008 were available from both surveys.

The regional-level division here is based on the NUTS – Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – is widely used in Europe. It is a hierarchical classification of countries and regions within countries. The classification subdivides each country (NUTS0 level) into one or more NUTS1 regions, each of which is, in turn, subdivided into one or more NUTS2 regions and so on. Although the data at all three levels were used (see here) for calculating the ESS/EVS-based indicators of cultural dimensions, only country level and NUTS1 regional level were used when calculating the indices of cultural distance. The dataset covers 28 countries and 14 of them are divided into 84 regions at the NUTS1 level.

More information can be found in the article.