Quality of life

The well-being or quality of life of a population is an important concern in economics and political science. There are many components to well-being. A large part is standard of living, the amount of money and access to goods and services that a person has; these numbers are fairly easily measured. Others like freedom, happiness, art, environmental health, and innovation are far harder to measure. This has created an inevitable imbalance as programs and policies are created to fit the easily available economic numbers while ignoring the other measures, that are very difficult to plan for or assess.

Related Topics:
Economics - Political science - Standard of living - Freedom - Happiness - Art - Environmental - Innovation

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Debate over what best maximizes quality of life is millennia old, with Aristotle giving it much thought and eventually settling on the notion of eudaimonia (happiness) as central.

Related Topics:
Aristotle - Eudaimonia

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Understanding quality of life is today particularly important in health care, where monetary measures do not readily apply. Decisions on what research or treatments to invest the most in are closely related to their effect of a patient's quality of life.

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