Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1.3.1 Quality of Life versus Standard of Living Concepts
GDP (as a measure of the average standard of living) used to be considered
the one and only indicator for evaluating the well-being of a nation.
However,  many concerns were raised with respect to inequality of wealth
distribution; hence, the Gini coefficient was introduced to measure income
distribution. Further, GDP was normalised using purchasing power parities
(PPPs) to be able to compare results from various countries on an actual base
with respect to the local circumstances of cost of living.
However, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, it has long been
accepted that material well-being, as measured by GDP per person, cannot
alone explain the broader quality of life in a country [14]. Income or standard
of living is of course crucial; without resources, any progress is difficult.
Yet, other aspects must also be gauged. One strand of the literature has tried
to adjust GDP by quantifying omitted facets—for example, various non-
market activities and social ills such as environmental pollution. However,
it has faced insurmountable difficulties in assigning monetary values to the
various factors and intangibles of socioeconomic well-being.
Currently, Human Development Index (HDI) is another widely used indi-
cator for quantifying progress. It combines measures of life expectancy,
education and standard of living in an attempt to quantify the options avail-
able to individuals within a given society. It is used by the United Nations
Development Programme in their Human Development Report.
In the 2010 Human Development Report, three new measures were intro-
duced. The inequality-adjusted HDI, the Gender Inequality Index and the
Multidimensional Poverty Index were applied to most countries in the world,
and they provide important new insights [15].
Despite the high appreciation and dependence on HDI, there are still more
aspects that can describe and be attributed to quality of life. The debate is
still unresolved. According to Veenhoven [12], HDI is of little weight as a
measure of overall well-being. He claims that HDI adds apples and oranges,
where chances for a good life (wealth and education) are added to outcomes
(life expectancy) and outer qualities (wealth and equality) are added to an
inner one (education).
Alternatively, there have been numerous attempts to construct alterna-
tive, non-monetary indices of social and economic well-being. The following
section attempts to study the concept of quality of life and the relevant efforts
to measure it worldwide.
1.3.2 Quality of Life Indices
According to Rapley [16], quality of life has developed from being a social
scientific index of the relative well-being of whole populations (a measure
of the state of states) to being a measurable aspect of individual subjective
experiences (an index of the state of persons). The ecological economist
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