Under the well-being of the population in economics and sociology means the provision of people with various types of benefits (material, social, spiritual). Among them are items, services, living conditions, products. Welfare is characterized by the level of income, the amount of consumption of material goods, the availability and quality of housing, the provision of transport, housing and communal services, household services, the level of he alth care, education, cultural services, social security, the length of the working day and the amount of free time, etc. The article gives answer to topical questions on the economy related to the standard of living of citizens.
What is the standard of living?
Another important concept in the economy is the standard of living. This is approximately the same as the level of well-being, although the concept of "standard of living" is more often used in assessing the income of citizens. Therefore, it can be considered a narrower and more quantitative indicator. The standard of living refers to financial and material well-being,availability of goods and services that are relevant in a given period of time. The simplest indicator of the standard of living is the ratio of a person's income to the cost of a consumer basket.
The standard of living is determined by the amount of recorded income and expenses of a citizen.
What is the quality of life of the population?
More generalized is the idea of quality of life. This is a more vague indicator that cannot be accurately quantified. It can be called an intangible, subjective indicator. When determining it, such general factors as the state of he alth, the environment, the level of psychological comfort, etc. are taken into account. The quality of life shows the degree of satisfaction with life, which a person can rate as very bad, bad, average, good and excellent (or maximum). One year is taken as a unit of time when assessing the quality of life.
What is an indicator of the standard of living?
The United Nations offers a broad approach in determining the indicator of the standard of living of the population. Among the proposed items (12 pieces), the most important ones can be distinguished:
- balance of income and expenses;
- price level;
- level of social security;
- housing conditions;
- Unemployment rate, working conditions;
- life expectancy of the population;
- hygienic conditions;
- state of education, medicine;
- state of transport infrastructure.
In general, these indicators are quite specific, although they allowsome degree of subjectivity in the assessments. At the same time, two are considered the most important: incomes of the population and life expectancy. A separate analysis is carried out for different segments of the population. This allows you to get away from uninformative average estimates and consider the situation in more detail.
The standard of living of the countries of the world in 2018
The standard of living of the population is determined separately for each of the 142 countries, which include both the rich countries of Europe and the poorest countries of Africa. Norway is in first place. This is the country with the highest standard of living. It became rich thanks to the oil and gas reserves extracted from the bottom of the nearby seas. The country is also one of the leaders in the development of renewable energy, environmentally friendly modes of transport. Obviously Norway has a fair social system. All this makes her one of the most successful in the world.
The last place in the ranking is Chad. It is a Central African state with a backward agrarian economy and weak governance. Africa generally has a low standard of living. The hot climate and insufficient resources are probably to blame, as well as the colonial past of many of these countries. Basically, these are small states with very modest capabilities. In addition, the problem is aggravated by the tradition of having many children, and with extensive farming, population growth leads to a rapid depletion of resources.
The map shows the standard of living in different countries of the world.
Living standard in Russia in 2018year
According to the Legatum Prosperity Index, our country is in 61st place in the ranking of countries in the world in terms of living standards. Above us are Greece, Belarus, Mongolia, as well as Mexico, Romania and China. Below are the developing states. Thus, Russia is at the very bottom of the rating of countries with an average standard of living, but is still higher than typical developing countries of the tropical and equatorial belts. For the richest country in terms of resources, this is a very unsightly figure. And they are unlikely to improve in 2019.
As for Ukraine, it is among the developing countries, in 64th place in the list of countries in the world. That is, not far from us.
What are developed countries?
Economically advanced countries are countries with rapid technological progress, developed and influential economies. Only 15-16% of the world's population lives in such states. However, this does not prevent them from producing 3/4 of the entire gross product of civilization and creating the basis for scientific and technological progress. It is also the country with the highest standard of living of the population. In a more outdated sense, developed countries mean industrial, or industrialized, states. By this definition, China can rightfully be included among them. Due to the rapid development of the Chinese economy and the growing number of scientific discoveries and technical developments, this country can already be classified as developed with reservations. However, the standard of living of people is not yet sufficient to achieve the indicatorsclassical developed countries.
The economically developed countries include the countries of Western and Northern Europe, Canada and the USA, Australia and Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. They also include Israel.
The UN prefers to refrain from a clear distinction between developed and developing countries.
Welfare economics
There is no specific definition for this concept. However, it is obvious that we are talking about the economy of developed countries. Such an economy provides a decent quality of life for the vast majority of citizens, a good supply of services, quality goods, and infrastructure. Much attention is paid to the environment, as well as the development of industry and advanced technologies. This is the welfare and growth economy.
More controversial is the relationship between we alth and economic growth. Some scientists believe that such a connection exists, others say that these phenomena often conflict with each other. The main arguments of those who consider economic growth to be of little use to people's lives are as follows:
- Economic growth is exacerbating environmental problems ranging from air pollution to climate change.
- Economic growth can only enrich part of the population and does not necessarily affect the income of the majority of people.
- Often economic growth contributes to a decrease in the number of jobs. To a greater extent, this applies totechnological growth.
- Economic growth is mechanical in nature and generates a huge amount of products that are far from always important for people and rather litter shop counters and residents' apartments.
Those who consider such growth important for improving the lives of the population give their arguments:
- The increase in output leads to a more complete and versatile satisfaction of the various needs of people.
- Economic growth does not always lead to environmental degradation. It often encourages more active adoption of new technologies.
- Economic growth leads to an increase in people's incomes.
- Economic growth is better than recession anyway.
We alth distribution and social stratification
People's incomes are never the same. Although each person strives to receive more, this desire is expressed to varying degrees in everyone. For some, we alth is the meaning of life, while for others, spiritual values are more important. Opportunities in earning money are also different for everyone. It depends on the region in which a person lives, what abilities he has, his level of he alth, emotional stability. It may also depend on all kinds of particular circumstances.
The presence of social injustice sharply increases social stratification, when some are in a clearly more advantageous position than others. In our country, social injustice is more pronounced than anywhere else in the world, and the abilities and desires of a person turn out to be less significant than person alties.
Apparently, large income stratification is the main reason for the widespread poverty in our country. Indeed, in terms of reserves of natural resources, we are in first place in the world.
What do the statistics say?
According to statistics, a tenth of the Russian population owns 82% of the country's total personal property. In the US, this figure is lower - 76%. And in China it is 62%. Now our country is in second place in the world in terms of material inequality after Thailand.
According to the Higher School of Economics, this situation in Russia will continue to worsen. In 2019, the gap between the incomes of the poor and the rich will become even wider, which could lead the country to the first place in this ranking. The greatest irritation among Russians is caused by rather high incomes among officials and frankly gigantic incomes among oligarchs. All this suggests that we are still far from the welfare economy.
Reasons for stratification in Russia
Probably, the reasons for such a strong stratification are the resource orientation of the Russian economy, the absence of a progressive tax, the policy of the federal authorities, and the peculiarity of the mentality of Russian citizens. However, the last point refers only to the category of hypotheses. For example, during the Soviet period, relative equality prevailed, and most people did not have a great desire to get rich.
According to experts, the minimum wage of 50,000 rubles. at current prices, this is a sufficient level that would allow smoothing out contrasts and not muchwould harm the we althy stratum. However, while the state adheres to a different tactic. As a result, the level of stratification is growing, which has a negative impact on the performance of the economy and reduces domestic demand. It turns out that the country's economy is based on the constant extraction and export of natural resources. Otherwise, it will not be viable at all.
Conclusion
Thus, the quality of life of the population depends on many factors. One of the most important is the level of income stratification. If it is relatively small, then this is quite a normal phenomenon, characteristic of most countries of the world. However, when it goes off scale, the quality of life of the low-income strata deteriorates sharply. Economically developed countries include states with a high level and quality of life, developed economies, and rapid technological progress. Soon, China will be among them. Welfare economics implies the creation of comfortable conditions for people's lives, opportunities to meet their needs. Such an economy must be balanced. Achieving an economic balance between supply and demand is an important element of it. This allows you to make it as stable and stable as possible.
