Quality of Life vs. Standard of Living, Exams of Human Development

Download Quality of Life vs. Standard of Living and more Exams Human Development in PDF only on Docsity! Quality of Life vs. Standard of Living Social Studies 10 Standard of living and quality of life are often referred to in discussions about the economic and social well-being of countries and their residents. But what is the difference between the two? The definitions of these terms can be difficult to tease apart and may overlap in some areas, depending on whom you ask. But the difference between the two is more than just semantics; in fact, knowing the difference between the two can affect how you evaluate a country where you might be looking to invest. Standard of Living Standard of living generally refers to the level of wealth, comfort, material goods and necessities available to a certain socioeconomic class in a certain geographic area. An evaluation of standard of living commonly includes the following factors: ! income ! quality and availability of employment ! class disparity ! poverty rate ! quality and affordability of housing (For related reading, see Mortgages: How Much Can You Afford?) ! hours of work required to purchase necessities ! gross domestic product (GDP) (For more insight, see Don't Be Misled By Gross National Product.) ! inflation rate (See our Inflation tutorial for more.) ! number of paid vacation days per year ! affordable access to quality healthcare ! quality and availability of education ! life expectancy ! incidence of disease ! cost of goods and services ! infrastructure ! national economic growth ! economic and political stability ! political and religious freedom ! environmental quality ! climate ! safety When you think about standard of living, you can think about things that are easy to quantify. We can measure factors like life expectancy, inflation rate and the average number of paid vacation days workers receive each year. Standard of living is often used to compare geographic areas, such as the standard of living in the United States versus Canada, or the standard of living in Milwaukee versus New York City. If you live in a particular country, a certain number of vacation days per year will be the norm. In the United States, it's 10 to 20 days - in Denmark it's 31. Some companies within each country may be more or less generous, but one practice prevails. Quality of Life vs. Standard of Living Social Studies 10 Standard of living can also be used to compare distinct points in time. For example, compared to a century ago, the standard of living in the U.S. is considered to have improved greatly. The same amount of work buys a larger quantity of goods, and items that were once luxuries, such as refrigerators and automobiles, are now widely available. Also, leisure time and life expectancy have increased, and annual hours worked have decreased. One measure of standard of living is the Human Development Index (HDI), developed in 1990 by the United Nations. It considers life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rates and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) to measure a country's level of development. (For related reading, see What is GDP and why is it so important?) Quality of Life Quality of life is more subjective and intangible. The United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, provides an excellent list of factors that can be considered in evaluating quality of life. It includes many things that citizens of the United States and other developed countries take for granted, but that are not available in a significant number of countries around the world. Although this declaration is 60 years old, in many ways it still represents an ideal to be achieved rather than a baseline state of affairs. Factors that may be used to measure quality of life include the following: ! freedom from slavery and torture ! equal protection of the law ! freedom from discrimination ! freedom of movement ! freedom of residence within one's home country ! presumption of innocence unless proved guilty ! right to marry ! right to have a family ! right to be treated equally without regard to gender, race, language, religion, political beliefs, nationality, socioeconomic status and more ! right to privacy ! freedom of thought ! freedom of religion ! free choice of employment ! right to fair pay ! equal pay for equal work ! right to vote ! right to rest and leisure ! right to education ! right to human dignity