Quality of Life

Quality of life (QOL) refers to the general well-being of individuals and societies. The well-being or QOL of a population was long considered an important concern of society from an economic and societal perspective. It is different from the concept of standard of living, which is primarily based on income. Significant emphasis may be placed on money, social functioning, emotional well-being, and access to goods and services in a society, yet standard of living is not necessarily a direct measure of QOL.

The dimensions of QOL are discussed first, followed by well-known measures of related phenomena, including the Human Development Index (HDI), the Social Progress Index (SPI), the Happy Planet Index (HPI), and the World Development Report (WDR). Finally, QOL’s role in health care and ...

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