Editing Standard of living

{{Short description|Measure of income, comfort and services}}
{{Redirect|Living standard|normative standards implemented as living documents|Living document}}

'''Standard of living''' is the level of [[income]], [[comfort]]s and services available to an individual, community or [[society]]. A contributing factor to an individual's [[quality of life]], standard of living is generally concerned with objective metrics outside an individual's personal control, such as [[economic]], societal, political, and environmental matters.<ref>{{cite OED|standard of living|5785495729}}</ref> Individuals or groups use the standard of living to evaluate where to live in the world, or when assessing the success of society.

In international law, an "adequate standard of living" was first described in the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] and further described in the [[International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights]]. To evaluate the impact of policy for [[sustainable development]], different disciplines have defined '''''Decent Living Standards''''' in order to evaluate or compare relative living experience.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/ |title=IPCC Sixth Assessment Report Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change |publisher=[[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] |year=2022 |chapter=Supplementary Material I Chapter 5: Social Science Primer |chapter-url=https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg3/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_FinalDraft_Chapter05_SupplementaryMaterial.pdf}}</ref>

During much of its use in economics, improvements to standard of living were thought to be directly connected to [[Growth imperative|economic growth]], as well as increase amount of energy consumption and other materials. However, the [[IPCC Sixth Assessment Report]] found that literature demonstrates that improvements in [[sustainable development]] practices as well as changes in technological efficiency and energy production and use, allow for a Decent Living Standard for all people without [[fossil fuels]] and ~15.3 GJ per capita by the end of the 21st century.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg3/ |title=IPCC Sixth Assessment Report Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change |publisher=[[Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change]] |year=2022 |chapter=Chapter 5: Demand, services and social aspects of mitigation |chapter-url=https://report.ipcc.ch/ar6wg3/pdf/IPCC_AR6_WGIII_FinalDraft_Chapter05.pdf}}</ref> This allows for [[climate change mitigation]] by [[demand reduction]] as well as other [[sustainable development]] practices.<ref name=":0" />

== Factors considered by scholars ==
Standard of living might be evaluated using a number of characteristics including as the quality and availability of [[employment]], [[real income]], [[Disposable household and per capita income|disposable income]], class disparity, [[poverty rate]], quality and housing affordability, hours of work required to purchase [[Basic needs|necessities]], [[gross domestic product]], [[inflation rate]], amount of leisure time, access to and quality of healthcare, quality and availability of [[education]], [[literacy]] rates, life expectancy, occurrence of diseases, cost of goods and services, infrastructure, access to, quality and affordability of public transportation, national [[economic 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.

== Right to an adequate standard of living ==
{{Excerpt|Right to an adequate standard of living}}

== Decent living standard ==
{{Expand section|date=April 2022}}
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{{clarify|date=May 2024}} 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).<ref name=":1" /> 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{{clarify|date=May 2024}} is not always able to be maintained for a long period of time.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Rao|first1=Narasimha D.|last2=Min|first2=Jihoon|date=July 2018|title=Decent Living Standards: Material Prerequisites for Human Wellbeing|url= |journal=Social Indicators Research|language=en|volume=138|issue=1|pages=225–244|doi=10.1007/s11205-017-1650-0|issn=0303-8300|pmc=6013539|pmid=29950752}}</ref>

== Measurement ==
Standard of living is generally measured by standards such as [[inflation (economics)|inflation]]-adjusted income per person and poverty rate. Other measures such as access and quality of [[health care]], [[Economic inequality|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.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Clark |first1=Nardinelli |title=Industrial Revolution and the Standard of Living |url=https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/IndustrialRevolutionandtheStandardofLiving.html |website=Econlib}}</ref>

There is also the biological standard of living, which pertains to how well the human biological organism fares in its socio-economic environment.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Komlos |first1=John |last2=Baten |first2=Joerg |year=1998 |title=The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective |url=https://eh.net/book_reviews/the-biological-standard-of-living-in-comparative-perspective/ |access-date=2022-05-29 |website=eh.net |pages=236–249}}</ref> It is often measured by the height of a population.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Komlos |first1=John |last2=Coclanis |first2=Peter |year=1997 |title=On the 'Puzzling' Antebellum Cycle of the Biological Standard of Living: the Case of Georgia |url=https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/ehbkomart/9.htm |journal=Explorations in Economic History |volume=34 |pages=433–459|doi=10.1006/exeh.1997.0680 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The idea of a 'standard' may be contrasted with the [[quality 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.<ref>{{cite web |author=Investopedia Staff |title=Standard of Living Definition |url=https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/standard-of-living.asp |website=Investopedia |language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Gini coefficient]]
* [[Gross domestic product#GDP per capita|GDP per capita]]
* [[Housing stress]]
* [[Human Development Index]]
* [[Income and fertility]]
* [[Index of Economic Freedom]]
* [[List of countries by Social Progress Index]]
* [[Living wage]]
* [[Measurable economic welfare]]
* [[Median household income]]
* [[Right to an adequate standard of living]]
* [[Total fertility rate]]
* [[Where-to-be-born Index]]
* [[Working hours]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/IndustrialRevolutionandtheStandardofLiving.html ''Industrial Revolution and the Standard of Living''] by Freddy Madero
* [http://www.livingstandards.org/ ''Commission on Living Standards''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712001638/http://www.livingstandards.org/ |date=12 July 2014 }}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Standard of living| ]]
[[Category:Purchasing power]]