4 Ways to Measure Your Standard of Living

4 Ways to Measure Your Standard of Living

 “Standard of living” should not equate¹ to “amount of spending”.

When I sat down to write an article on the countries with the highest standard of living, I thought it would be easy. But, how do you define “standard of living”?

Merriam-Webster.com says it means:

1 : the necessities, comforts, and luxuries enjoyed or aspired² to by an individual or group

2 : a minimum of necessities, comforts, or luxuries held essential to maintaining a person or group in customary or proper status or circumstances

The World Bank says:

The level of well-being³ (of an individual, group or the population of a country) as measured by the level of income (for example, GNP per capita) or by the quantity of various goods and services consumed (for example, the number of cars per 1,000 people or the number of television sets per capita).

The Merriam-Webster definition is rather ambiguous – it depends what you define as “necessities” and “comforts” – but the World Bank definition seems unashamedly material: that standard of living is related to how much money you have and what you spend it on.

Yet many different agents have come up with many different ways to define, measure, and rank standard of living, and they aren’t all based purely⁴ on economics. Here are four methods, with the top ten ranked countries under each system.

1. Gross Domestic Product

 Gross Domestic Product is the total market value of all the goods and services produced in a country in a year. Since our prevailing⁵ world view is still stuck on more money = better life, GDP is often used as a quick and dirty way to infer a country’s standard of living.

 This is, to use a technical term, complete crap. Not only can money not buy happiness, but not all spending is good spending. Clearing up a pesky oil spill or sustaining multiple wars in foreign lands might be great for expenditure⁶ and therefore GDP, but doesn’t mean the country or its people are any ‘better off’ than they were beforehand.

There are tons of other reasons why GDP is not a good indicator⁷ of standard of living – for example, it doesn’t factor in wealth distribution, or the negative effects of higher production – but it’s regularly and easily measured, and relatively⁸ easy to compare across countries. For now, at least, it’s here to stay.

 GDP top 10 in 2010 according to the IMF (GDP given in millions of $):

1. United States (14,624,184)

2. China (5,745,133)

3. Japan (5,390,897)

4. Germany (3,305,898)

5. France (2,555,439)

6. United Kingdom (2,258,565)

7. Italy (2,036,687)

8. Brazil (2,023,528)

9. Canada (1,563,664)

10. Russia (1,476,912)

What people really want is to live long, fulfilling lives, not just to be filthy⁹ rich.

2. Human Development Index

The  Human Development Index was instituted in 1990 as a way to assess development in terms of human wellbeing as well as economics. It’s a composite statistic¹⁰ that takes into account health, education, and income.

It’s used by the UN Development Programme each year in its Human Development Reports to produce a sort of league table of countries, each of which are placed in one of three divisions: developed, developing, or underdeveloped. But country rankings are relative rather than absolute, and there is no ecological¹¹ dimension to the index.

 HDI top 10 in 2010 according to the UN:

1. Norway

2. Australia

3. New Zealand

4. United States

5. Ireland

6. Lichtenstein

7. Netherlands

8. Canada

9. Sweden

10. Germany

3. Satisfaction With Life Index

Developed by a psychologist at the University of Leicester, the  Satisfaction With Life Index attempts to measure happiness directly, by asking people how happy they are with their health, wealth, and education, and assigning a weighting to these answers.

This concept is related to the idea of Gross National Happiness that came from Bhutan in the 1970′s. Although it may sound like a country-wide gurning contest, it was actually a casual remark by the king that was taken seriously by the Centre for Bhutan Studies, which set about designing a survey to measure the population’s well-being. The idea is that material and spiritual development should take place side by side, underpinned¹² by sustainable development, cultural values, conservation, and good governance.

Satisfaction With Life Index top 10 in 2006 :

1. Denmark

2. Switzerland

3. Austria

4. Iceland

5. The Bahamas

6. Finland

7. Sweden

8. Bhutan

9. Brunei

10. Canada

4. Happy Planet Index

The  Happy Planet Index was introduced by the New Economics Foundation in 2006. The premise¹³ is that what people really want is to live long and fulfilling lives, not just to be filthy rich. The kicker is that this has to be sustainable both worldwide and down through the generations.

The HPI is calculated based on life satisfaction, life expectancy¹⁴, and ecological footprint. It doesn’t measure how happy a country is, but how environmentally efficient it is to support well-being in that country.

In other words, if people are happy but they’re guzzling¹⁵ more than their fair share of natural resources, the country will not have a high Happy Planet Index. But if people are happy and have a medium environmental impact, or are moderately happy and with a low impact, the country’s score will be high.

Happy Planet Index top 10 in 2009:

1. Costa Rica

2. Dominican Republic

3. Jamaica

4. Guatemala

5. Vietnam

6. Colombia

7. Cuba

8. El Salvador

9. Brazil

10. Honduras

1 equate   

v.同等看待，使相等

参考例句：

• You can't equate passing examination and being intelligent.你不能把考试及格看成是聪明。
• You cannot equate his poems with his plays.你不可以把他的诗歌和他的剧本相提并论。

2 aspired   

v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She aspired to a scientific career. 她有志于科学事业。
• Britain,France,the United States and Japan all aspired to hegemony after the end of World War I. 第一次世界大战后，英、法、美、日都想争夺霸权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

4 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

5 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

6 expenditure   

n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗

参考例句：

• The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
• The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。

7 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

10 statistic   

n.统计量；adj.统计的，统计学的

参考例句：

• Official statistics show real wages declining by 24%.官方统计数字表明实际工资下降了24%。
• There are no reliable statistics for the number of deaths in the battle.关于阵亡人数没有可靠的统计数字。

11 ecological   

adj.生态的，生态学的

参考例句：

• The region has been declared an ecological disaster zone.这个地区已经宣布为生态灾难区。
• Each animal has its ecological niche.每种动物都有自己的生态位.

12 underpinned   

v.用砖石结构等从下面支撑（墙等）( underpin的过去式和过去分词 )；加固（墙等）的基础；为（论据、主张等）打下基础；加强

参考例句：

• The report is underpinned by extensive research. 这份报告以广泛的研究为基础。
• The statue of Diana was underpinned with charred piles. Diana雕像是建造在炭化了的木桩上的。 来自辞典例句

13 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

14 expectancy   

n.期望，预期，（根据概率统计求得）预期数额

参考例句：

• Japanese people have a very high life expectancy.日本人的平均寿命非常长。
• The atomosphere of tense expectancy sobered everyone.这种期望的紧张气氛使每个人变得严肃起来。

15 guzzling   

v.狂吃暴饮，大吃大喝( guzzle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The kids seem to be guzzling soft drinks all day. 孩子们似乎整天都在猛喝汽水。
• He's been guzzling beer all evening. 整个晚上他都在狂饮啤酒。 来自《简明英汉词典》