"Living standard" redirects here. For normative standards implemented as living documents, seeLiving document.
Standard of living is the level ofincome,comforts and services available to an individual, community orsociety. A contributing factor to an individual'squality of life, standard of living is generally concerned with objective metrics outside an individual's personal control, such aseconomic, societal, political, and environmental matters.[1] Individuals or groups use the standard of living to evaluate where to live in the world, or when assessing the success of society.
During much of its use in economics, improvements to standard of living were thought to be directly connected toeconomic growth, as well as increase amount of energy consumption and other materials. However, theIPCC Sixth Assessment Report found that literature demonstrates that improvements insustainable development practices as well as changes in technological efficiency and energy production and use, allow for a Decent Living Standard for all people withoutfossil fuels and ~15.3 GJ per capita by the end of the 21st century.[3] This allows forclimate change mitigation bydemand reduction as well as othersustainable development practices.[3]
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, includingfood,clothing,housing and medical care and necessarysocial services, and the right to security in the event ofunemployement, sickness,disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
The third is freedom from want which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants, everywhere in the world.
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The standard of living varies between individuals depending on different aspects of life. The standard of living consists of the individuals having the basics such as food, shelter, social safety[clarification needed] and interaction, which all contribute to their wellbeing and what is considered to be a decent living standard.
Commentators use a number of different measures and approaches to establish the decent living standard (DLS).[2] The decent living standard revolves around the idea and principle that a majority of the population demand the basics that will allow them to have shelter, food and water; however it[clarification needed] is not always able to be maintained for a long period of time.[6]
Standard of living might be evaluated using a number of characteristics including as the quality and availability ofemployment,real income,disposable income, class disparity,poverty rate, quality and housing affordability, hours of work required to purchasenecessities,gross domestic product,inflation rate, amount of leisure time, access to and quality of healthcare, quality and availability ofeducation,literacy rates, life expectancy, occurrence of diseases, cost of goods and services, infrastructure, access to, quality and affordability of public transportation, nationaleconomic growth, economic and political stability, freedom, environmental quality, climate and safety. For the purposes of economics, politics and policy, it is usually compared across time or between groups defined by social, economic or geographical parameters.
Standard of living is generally measured by standards such asinflation-adjusted income per person and poverty rate. Other measures such as access and quality ofhealth care,income growth inequality, and educational standards are also used. Examples are access to certain goods (such as the number of refrigerators per 1000 people), or measurement of health such as life expectancy. It is the ease by which people living in a time or place are able to satisfy their needs and/or wants.[7]
There is also the biological standard of living, which pertains to how well the human biological organism fares in its socio-economic environment.[8] It is often measured by the height of a population.[9]
The idea of a 'standard' may be contrasted with thequality of life, which takes into account not only the material standard of living but also other more intangible aspects that make up human life, such as leisure, safety, cultural resources, social life,physical health, environmental quality issues.[10]
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