With the Austrian Rural Development Programme 2007-2013, public funds amounting to 1.1 billion € per year were used. It financed measures to improve the quality of the environment, to maintain management in less-favoured areas and productivity-enhancing investments. The effects of the programme on employment, value added and emissions were analysed using regionally differentiated quantitative models for the agricultural sector and the national economy. This analysis was supplemented by econometric studies on aspects of quality of life at the level of individual communities. The results show that the programme has kept abandoned agricultural sites in production, increased employment, increased economic value added and reduced the environmental impact of nitrogen surpluses and greenhouse gas emissions. These effects varied greatly from region to region. The quality of life indicators examined do not present a uniform picture.