Economic security and physical security · Governance and basic rights · Natural and vital environment · General life experience. Figure 5 presents the categorization of the revised references in terms of their respective indicators in relation to the four qualities of life. The first quarter (habitability of the environment) included any indicator related to the quality of the social and physical environment, such as housing conditions, as well as the quantity and quality of urban facilities, water, air and green spaces. The second trimester (a person's capacity for life) was associated with human and personal attributes, such as those related to health and education.
The third trimester (utility of life) included any indicator related to the contribution of a person (or community) to society and the environment, such as civic participation, ecological footprint, programs related to sustainability, and efforts for the conservation of the environment and the preservation of art and culture. The fourth trimester (enjoyment of life) included indicators or dimensions such as subjective well-being, satisfaction with life, happiness and life expectancy. Of the total number of references reviewed, 39% were present in all four quadrants, meaning that these references included at least one indicator in each of the four qualities of life. Among the four quadrants, the third quarter had the highest percentage of references that lacked any indicator, with 36%, followed by the second and fourth quarters, with 25% each.
In the first trimester, all but one of the references had at least one indicator. Standard quality of life indicators include wealth, employment, environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure, social belonging, religious beliefs, security and freedom. Quality of life has a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, health, politics, and employment. Health-related quality of life (CVRS) is an assessment of quality of life and its relationship with health.
Some key quality of life indicators include sufficient income, job satisfaction, decent housing, access to high-quality education, reasonable work-life balance, rewarding personal relationships, and access to cultural and leisure activities. They feel safe in all their environments. The list of indicators developed by Eurostat with the help of this group of experts can be found in the section dedicated to quality of life. The agreed objective was to provide an overview of quality of life indicators from an individual and social perspective in a structured way, based on the available published data, and to discuss them taking into account the different perspectives.
The publication presents a detailed analysis of many different dimensions of quality of life, complementing the indicator traditionally used as a measure of economic and social development, the gross domestic product (GDP). The vast majority of authors recognize quality of life based on a set of objective (social indicators) and subjective (sense of satisfaction, individual satisfaction) components, distinguishing in each of them economic, spatial, social and psychological aspects. For this purpose, the reference that included at least one indicator that falls within the scope of the dimension considered was marked by placing its number inside a circle. While GDP is very useful for measuring market production and providing an indicative snapshot of an economy at any given time, it does not provide a complete picture of the economic situation of the citizens of a society.
This means that the indicators are added first, followed by the aggregation of the dimensions to produce a composite index. Measuring the quality of life of different populations and countries in a comparable way is a complex task, and for this purpose a scoreboard that covers a series of relevant dimensions is needed. In addition, the fact that low use of the keyword “environment” has been observed and its weak relationship with quality of life could also indicate a research deficit, indicating that more studies are needed to reveal the importance of natural capital for the quality of life and well-being of people, as well as the human impact on the environment. It classifies 156 countries according to their levels of happiness, reflecting the growing global interest in using happiness and substantial well-being as indicators of the quality of human development.
Many psychologists indicate that haste, instability and disorganization of family and social life are the reason for this state of affairs, these indicators are becoming a more common phenomenon in all social circles, including the most educated and the very wealthy. The quality indicators described here are intended to go beyond minimum standards and point towards more ambitious objectives. Usually, objective measurement is carried out using economic indicators (GDP, AIC, social minimum, Gini coefficient, and others). On the basis of this recommendation, a group of experts coordinated by Eurostat was created with the mandate to develop a quality of life indicator framework.
This has also been observed previously, following changes in the level of happiness over many years using a different indicator of well-being (Measure of Economic Welfare, MEW).
