Standard of Living
You may be familiar with the term “standard of living” but do you know what it actually measures? What are the factors that influence your own standard of living? How do these factors affect you in your day to day life? Are they constant or are they always changing? Firstly, let's look at a simple definition. A standard of living is represented by the quality of all goods and services in a country. How plentiful these are and how equally they are distributed among a country's population makes up your standard of living.
Your standard of living can be measured by several factors including your personal income, the rate of inflation, and the country's poverty rate. Other factors such as access to education and health care are also taken into consideration, along with social rights and freedoms. The distribution of certain goods is also factored in, for example, the number of households that own a television. In short, your standard of living measures your ability to satisfy your needs and wants in your daily life.
Quality of life is different for everyone. Some people may feel that the state of their natural environment contributes greatly to their quality of life. Others may feel access to entertainment and cultural facilities are more important. So when economists measure your standard of living, they try to take into account all of these factors along with “hard” statistics such as GNP, your national income, and the size of the population.
One factor that has a strong influence on standard of living is the distribution of wealth. For example, a wealthy country may have a small, rich, upper class, and a large, poverty stricken lower class. This situation distorts standard of living figures because on paper, the country as a whole is fairly wealthy. However, in actual terms, the majority of the population's standard of living is low.
In international surveys, the countries that consistently have the highest standards of living are the Scandinavian countries. In 2003, the top ten countries in the world with the highest standards of living were: Norway, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Australia, the United States, Iceland, the Netherlands, Japan and Finland.
For more infomation on economics choose from the list below. |
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Banking - Business Finances - Economics - Insurance - Investing
Major Purchases - Personal Finances - Stock Market - Taxes
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