Although many countries have experienced an increase in life expectancy, it has not yet been investigated whether quality of life (QoL) has also increased over time. This paper aims to investigate whether QoL changed for the general Dutch population in the period 2001-2008. Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) were employed to address specific features of the QoL distribution (boundness, skewness and heteroskedasticity) as well non-linear age and time trends. Age, gender and year-specific quality-adjusted life expectancy (QALE) was calculated by combining GAMLSS estimates of mean QoL with mortality rates from Statistics Netherlands. QALE changes were decomposed into changes determined by changes in QoL and into those determined by changes in mortality rates. Results revealed an increase in QoL in 2001-2008 for both genders and most ages. For example, for a man/woman aged 20 this resulted in an increase in QALE of 0.57 / 0.80 healthy years. Not available yet