Economic Aspects of the Quality of Life

Abstract

The aim of the research was to identify and assess the economic aspects of the quality of life in the EU. The research covered all Member States in terms of the selected quality-of-life indicators, which include GDP per capita expressed in purchasing power standards (PPS), average income in euro and severe material deprivation (SMD) expressed as a percentage. Three research methods were used to conduct the research: analysis and criticism of the literature on the national and international scale, analysis of secondary data obtained from the Eurostat database, as well as a statistical method using descriptive statistics, including the use of the dynamics index to estimate the level and direction of changes in the analyzed quality of life measures. As a result of the conducted research and with the use of the method of aggregating countries in terms of economic indicators describing the quality of life, it was found that rich countries characterized by high socio-economic development featured the highest level of quality of life. They include mainly Luxembourg, and due to the high level of average income and, at the same time, low SMD, Ireland, Austria, and Denmark. The lowest quality of life, but with the highest dynamics of average income, was characteristic of countries such as Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, and Hungary, where GDP was at a low or very low level. It should be added that in these countries, at the same time, some of the lower rates of deprivation dynamics were identified, which was a positive phenomenon. Poland had the lowest SMD dynamics.