Standard Of Living

Definition: Standard Of Living

Standard Of Living

Noun

1. A level of material comfort in terms of goods and services available to someone.

Domain	Definition
Economics	The amount of goods and services that a person can buy with the money that he earns, i. e. the real value of his income. This depends on the value of goods and services produced per head of the population and living standards can increase only if output and productivity rise. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The Standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people. It is generally measured by real (i.e. inflation adjusted) income per person, although sometimes other measures may be used; examples are access to certain goods (such as number of refrigerators per 1000 people), or measures of health such as life expectancy.

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 subjective factors that contribute to human life, such as leisure, safety, cultural resources, social life, mental health etc. More complex means of measuring well-being must be employed to make such judgements, and these are very often political, thus controversial.

However, there can be problems even with just using numerical averages to compare material standards of living, as opposed to, for instance, a Pareto index. Standards of living are perhaps inherently subjective. As an example, countries with a very small, very rich upper class and a very large, very poor lower class may have a high mean level of income, even though the majority of people have a low "standard of living". This mirrors the problem of poverty measurement, which also tends towards the relative.

Synonym: Standard Of Living

Synonym: standard of life (n). (additional references)

Crosswords: Standard Of Living

Specialty definitions using "standard of living": Common Agricultural Policy, consumer attitude, consumer behavior, consumer behaviour, consumers'behavior, consumers'behaviour ♦ OECD ♦ smuthole ♦ user behaviour. (references)

Domain	Title
Books	No Dry Season: Raising High God's Standard of Living for This Final Generation (reference) The Balance of Payments and the Standard of Living (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Budgeting For Basic Needs And Budgeting For Minimum Adequate Standard Of Living (reference) (more periodical examples)

Music	Standard of Living (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Indians of the Geroninio tribe who have the highest standard of living on the Mescalero Reservation, New Mexico. Credit: Library of Congress.		Turpentine worker's family near Cordele, Alabama. Father's wages one dollar a day. This is the standard of living the turpentine trees support. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Home of turpentine worker near Cordele, Alabama. Father's wage is one dollar a day. This is the standard of living the turpentine trees support. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Author	Date	Quotation
United Nations	1948	Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (reference)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		A low SES is associated with an overall lower standard of living, leading to a lower standard of health care and therefore an increased risk of stroke. (references)
Business		Germany has a well-developed industrial economy that provides its citizens with a high standard of living. (references)
		China's rapidly growing economy has led to an increase in the average Chinese person's disposable income and standard of living. (references)
		For hope of better job opportunities and to improve the standard of living increased number of students are applying for education in information technology. (references)
Children	Turkmenistan	Government subsidies and pensions are provided for persons with disabilities, although the pensions are inadequate to maintain a decent standard of living. (references)
	Brunei	The strong commitment to family values within society, the high standard of living, and government funding for children's welfare provides most children a healthy and nurturing environment. (references)
	Cambodia	Less than 5 percent of primary school teachers have completed high school, and teachers' salaries were not adequate to support a decent standard of living, leading to demands for unofficial payments directly from parents, which the poorest families cannot afford. (references)
Economic History	Saudi Arabia	Oil wealth has increased the standard of living of most Saudis. (references)
	Portugal	Portugal has increased its standard of living closer to that of its EU partners. (references)
	Taiwan	Meat production and consumption are rising sharply, reflecting a rising standard of living. (references)
Human Rights	Hong Kong	Under the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, a current or former government official who maintains a standard of living above that which is commensurate with his official income or who is in control of monies or property disproportionate to his official income is, unless he can satisfactorily explain the discrepancy, guilty of an offense. (references)
Indigenous People	Guyana	Their standard of living is much lower than that of most citizens and their ability to participate in decisions affecting their lands, cultures, traditions, and the allocation of natural resources is limited. (references)
	Botswana	The ultimatum highlights the fact that the Government has made little real progress since 1996 when international attention was focused on the problem of resettling Basarwa living in the CKGR. Both the Basarwa and the Government are seeking out concerned NGO's to assist with the resettlement process and to address the larger issue of improving the Basarwa's standard of living without sacrificing what remains of their traditional way of life. (references)
Political Economy	Greece	Residents enjoy a high standard of living. (references)
	Turkmenistan	Anecdotal evidence indicates the standard of living is not high. (references)
	Belgium	The economy provides a high standard of living for most citizens. (references)
Travel	Denmark	Denmark has a high standard of living. (references)
	Cote D'ivoire	Multinationals have preferred to locate their regional headquarters in Abidjan because they are assured relatively trouble free communications and a higher standard of living compared to other West African countries. (references)
Worker Rights	East Timor	UNTAET can not provide for a decent standard of living for a worker and family. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
John F. Kennedy	1961-1963	But it is not our military might, or our higher standard of living, that has most distinguished us from our adversaries.
Lyndon B. Johnson	1963-1969	Eighth, we must strengthen the ability of free nations everywhere to develop their independence and raise their standard of living, and thereby frustrate those who prey on poverty and chaos.
Jimmy Carter	1977-1981	Our high standard of living is largely the product of the technology that surrounds us in the home or factory.
Ronald Reagan	1981-1989	You'd never know that our standard of living remains the highest in the world.
George W. Bush	2001-2005	As productivity rises, so do wages, and our standard of living.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "standard of living"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		nivel jetese, nivel i jetesës. (various references)

Arabic		‏مستوى المعيشة. (various references)

Bulgarian		жизнено равнище. (various references)

Czech		životní úroveò (status). (various references)

Danish		levestandard (level of living, living standard). (various references)

Dutch		levensstandaard (level of living, living standard), leefklimaat (improvement of local amenities(in many contexts), quality of life). (various references)

Finnish		elintaso. (various references)

French		niveau de vie (living standard). (various references)

German		lebensstandard (level of living, living standard). (various references)

Greek		βιοτικό επίπεδο (living standard). (various references)

Hebrew		רמת �"חיים. (various references)

Hungarian		életszínvonal (living standards, rate of living). (various references)

Italian		tenore di vita (level of living, living standard). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		�"�活水準 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		せいかつすいじゅ�". (various references)

Pig Latin		andardstay ofay ivinglay

Portuguese		padrão de vida, nível de vida (level of living, living standard). (various references)

Romanian		nivel de trai. (various references)

Russian		уровень жизни (level of living). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		životni standard. (various references)

Spanish		nivel de vida (level of living, living standard). (various references)

Swedish		levnadsstandard. (various references)

Turkish		yaşam standardı, hayat standardı (quality of life). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-d-d-f-g-i-i-l-n-n-o-r-s-t-v"
	-4 letters: invalidators.
	-5 letters: disfavoring, divagations, indagations, invalidator, navigations, validations, vandalising.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day
standard of living	75
standard of living calculator	10
the standard of living by dorothy parker	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Standard Of Living

Definition: Standard Of Living