Standard of Living and Quality of Life

How should contemporary society respond to the legacies of historical globalization?


In the previous unit, you considered how Canada developed as a result of historical globalization and imperialism. Canadians and people all over the world have been influenced by globalization.

Which of these people do you think has a better life?

child carrying water
Source: Wikimedia Commons
tourist
Source: Wikimedia Commons
children skipping rope in Ghana
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Nations can be compared in terms of both
standard of living
the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people and the way they are distributed within a population

Generally, standard of living is measured by income equality, poverty rates, and real income per person. Other measures such as health care, education, human rights, and social rights are used also.
standard of living and
quality of life
a measure of how good one's life is, including standard of living and other, more difficult to measure aspects of well-being such as health, happiness, human rights and freedoms, environmental well-being, and creativity
quality of life.

Standard of living is measured by how much money people make and the kind of life they can live because of money. It is measured by real income per person. Therefore, it is useful in comparing the ways people live, but some problems occur with it.

Problems with per capital income as a measurement:

  • per capita income
    a measure of the wealth of the population of a nation, particularly in comparison to other nations

    Per capita income is usually expressed in US dollars to produce a straightforward statistic for comparison. Per capita (literally "per head" or per person) income is usually calculated by dividing the yearly gross national product of a nation by the number of people who live there. Per capita income does not take into account inequalities in wealth distribution, government spending, debt, and goods and services traded outside the formal economy.
    Per capita income is the average amount of money that people in a country have. If you take all the money earned in a country in a year and divide it by the number of people who live there, you get per capita income. In Canada in 2017, per capita income was about $45 000. (World Bank) However, 9.5% of all people in Canada live in poverty. That means about 3.4 million people have very little cash! Wealth is distributed unequally. Some people are rich and others are poor. In some nations, the distribution of wealth is extremely unequal.

  • Cost of living varies. Living costs are higher in some places than they are in others. If you live in northern areas, you must buy warm clothes and imported food for at least part of the year. In warm climates, food, clothing, housing, and transportation cost less.

  • Savings versus borrowing: Some nations have very little debt. If people cannot afford something, they do not buy it. North Americans often use credit to buy now and pay later.

  • Sustainable growth is not measured by per capita income. A country may achieve a high GNP (
    gross national product (GNP)
    the total value of final goods and services  produced in a year by a country's citizens
    Gross National Product) by exploiting natural resources.

  • Social spending: In countries such as Canada, governments use tax revenues to pay for education, health care, unemployment benefits, and pensions. These services improve the standard of living for many people. In other places, people must pay for these services themselves.

Standard of living does not measure quality of life.

  • quality of life
    a measure of how good one's life is, including standard of living and other, more difficult to measure aspects of well-being such as health, happiness, human rights and freedoms, environmental well-being, and creativity
    Quality of life is more difficult to describe. In addition to money, it includes several other factors such as happiness, freedom, equality, personal satisfaction, and love of family and friends.

  • Because every person is different, what one person things is a good quality of life may not matter to someone else.

    • You might want to own a pickup truck and you are willing to work day and night to get one, but your friend would rather concentrate on school and another would rather hang out with friends.
    • A family that has lived on the farm for generations but is forced to move to earn more money may find that they are not happy.
    • An Indigenous person who discovers his traditional hunting area has been destroyed by oilsands development may no longer enjoy life.

  • The
    United Nations (UN)
    an international organization that describes itself as a "global association of governments facilitating co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, and social equity"

    The United Nations organization was founded in 1945 by 51 countries, and today includes 191 nations, almost every country in the world.
    United Nations measures quality of life of nations in its
    UN Human Development Index (HDI)
    a comparative measure of poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, childbirth, and other factors for countries worldwide

    It is a standard means of measuring well-being in countries around the world.
    Human Development Index. This index evaluates each nation on the basis of life expectancy, education, and per capita income. 

Per Capita Income and Human Development

These figures show per capita income around the world.

Darkest Green (e.g. United States) = more than $50 000
Dark Green (e.g. Canada) = more than $30 000
Medium-dark Green (e.g. Russia) = more than $20 000
Medium-light Green (e.g. China) = more than $15 000
Darkest Yellow (e.g. Brazil) = more than $10 000
Dark Yellow (e.g. Ukraine) = more than $7 500
Yellow (e.g. India) = more than $5 000
Medium-light yellow (e.g. Nepal) = more than $2 500
Light yellow (e.g. Haiti) = more than $1 000
Lightest yellow (e.g. Niger) = less than $1 000


These figures show the human development around the world.

Dark green = high level of development
Light green = medium-high level of development
Yellow = medium level of development
Orange = medium-low level of development
Red = low level of development
Dark red = extremely low level of development

Cartoon courtesy zenpencils.com
Click to view larger version.


Reflect


Look at the two maps. What can you see about the wealth and human development of the countries of the world as it relates to imperialism? Now look at these maps in terms of imperialism. Most imperial powers were in western Europe and have both good per capita income and good human development. Former settler colonies such as Canada, the United States, and Australia also have a good standard of living and a good quality of life.