Standard of living

The standard of living describes the socio-cultural well-being of persons in relation to comparison subjects within a cultural community or comparison between different communities. Determines Specify the respective level of living conditions and the satisfaction of material and spiritual and cultural needs.

According to Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has a right to " a standard of living that ensures his and his family's health and well ". Here, food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services are explicitly included.

Indicators

In economics, the ( general ) standard of living is measured by indicators. These economic and social indicators to be considered depending on the method. Are often taken as a benchmark:

• Average GDP per capita
• The gross national income (formerly GNP )
• The per capita income and other similar indicators of the economic science.

Rare find:

• Big Mac Index: Big Mac price in the country
• Human Development Index: A way more than the gross national income to involve in the standard of living and yet to obtain measurable and comparable results, the Human Development Index of the UN. This includes data on life expectancy, literacy rate and education.

Anthropometric data, calorie consumption and working hours are in addition to household income and expenditure indicators of living standards.

General standard of living

The general standard of living in western countries is very different from that in developing countries. High dynamics and the associated large differences between rich and poor (ie high and low individual standard ) is found in the so-called emerging markets. The general standard of living depends among other things on the technical development. Not washing the general standard - for example, counted in Western Europe in the 1950s, a - granted today. As another example, a life without a car is already associated with strong restrictions in rural areas of developed countries; so far only the individual standard here develops slowly the general standard, with poor people to be excluded from it. Has also the integrity of the environmental impact on the standard of living ( eg urban sprawl, air and soil pollution by the industry).

Individual standard of living

The individual standard of living refers to the level of living conditions of a person compared to others are mostly of the same culture. At the individual level, in particular material goods such as a modern car, nice clothes or a comfortable place to live considered an expression of living standards (also: lifestyle ). But already, the " comfortable residence" to other than material things. The modern equipped with every comfort apartment in a social hotspot situation has markedly different quality of life than a half-timbered house in the Old Town. Quality of life and standard are also affected by ways of participating in cultural goods - the subsistence level, for example, is not sufficient for the visit of restaurants; Theater and cultural events, museums, radio and television ( license fee ), public libraries can be used on this basis only with high discount schemes. To what extent here, however, a " lack " of participation opportunities is determined depends inter alia on the educational level. Also education is like a number of other values ​​(health, violence, etc. ) for individual standard of living. In some industrialized countries can be observed at the time that the wealth increases, but also the social inequality (number of poverty-stricken ) grows. Families with minor children and especially single-parent families are over-represented in the group with low standard of living.

In terms of the individual is referred to in an oriented on previous income social backup from a backup of living standards. For example, one calls that living standards in old age than old age. Securing the standard of living is on the one hand the task of the individual, on the other hand, the subject of politics (social policy, family policy, and others). State framework for this voting with the term welfare state.

In the Federal Republic of Germany, the social security of the backup of the previous standard of living is based. The social security oriented for a long time in unemployment (reference the former unemployment assistance ) and divorce ( maintenance) on receipt of the previous standard of living through an oriented on previous income protection. This principle has been moved away with the introduction of unemployment benefit II: the claim long-term unemployed since then depends on a means test and is now based on the ( socio-cultural ) subsistence; it thus provides no backup of the previous standard of living longer represent This principle has also been moved away by the maintenance reform (Law on the reform of the law of maintenance ): The maintenance is now based not permanently attached to the marital standard of living, but is focused on post-marital responsibility.

Historical Development

Before the industrial revolution, there was no systematic improvement of living standards. Although the living standards of individual companies varied in comparison to each other and over time, but the average standard of living in the 18th century was probably not higher than the 100,000 years before. However, the standard of living was always significantly lower than in today's industrialized countries. In 18th century England, people were still working 300 days a year and only had Sunday free. They subsisted primarily of bread, a little cheese and bacon, drank weak tea, the men beer. Given the heavy physical labor and inadequate caloric intake, they often had to have been hungry. Hot meals were rare, because fuel was expensive. Candles were also too expensive, clothing was more than once a year, purchased new. 5 - to 6 -member families lived in two-room cottages. Similarly, the people who already lived in Mesopotamia 10,000 years ago.

Technological progress did not affect the standard of living before 1800, only the mortality and birth rates were relevant: Increased the death rate, the standard of living increased, the birth rate increased, the standard of living fell. For example, real wages in pre-industrial societies strongly fluctuated with each other, both spatially and temporally. Around 1800 were European daily wages significantly higher than Chinese, Japanese and Indian, which is explained by the higher in Europe by poorer hygiene death rates. The plague temporarily increased death rates, and thus the standard of living of the survivors. Despite completely different technological development resembled a typical daily wage in Babylon and Assyria in the 18th century England, while he was in classical Athens lower significantly higher in Roman Egypt. The standard of living of hunter-gatherer societies before the Neolithic Revolution is estimated from surviving equivalents. One indicator is the calorie consumption. This also varies considerably between companies, it is about 1,500 calories for the Yanomami and at about 3,800 calories for the Aché. In pre-industrial England they consumed an estimated 2,300 calories. The Yanomano here have a larger variety than the English had: While the English are mainly fed on bread and a little cheese and bacon, were on the menu of the Yanomami numerous animal and plant species, including wild boar, various birds, insects and fishes, fruits and vegetables. Another indicator of living standards, the body size, also indicates no systematic increase in the standard of living before the Industrial Revolution. Hunter-gatherers were not smaller than Europeans in the 18th century, and partially larger than Asians. A comparison of working hours per day comes to a similar conclusion: In 18th century England, typically 10 hours were worked, while hunter-gatherer peoples had to work much less with a median of 6 hours. The Yanomami even work only 3 hours.

With the industrial revolution, the standard of living diverged in developed and developing countries. While countries in Western Europe and North America were able to increase their per capita income for the ten to twenty times, the standard of living has not increased in many developing countries. While before 1800, the difference between the richest and poorest societies about 4:1, it now stands at 40:1. Reduced medical advances the mortality rate, the standard of living fell even there. In Western Europe and North America, this logic of the Malthusian era no longer be met, with increasing population, living standards no longer fell, and technological advances led to an unprecedented rise in living standards, the end is not in sight after 200 years. Life expectancy doubled in 1900-2000. Children mortality and morbidity measures rapidly. Despite the massive growth of income and consumption of goods, the working time has been reduced and increased leisure time. The educational level never reached anywhere before-seen heights. The social inequality within industrialized countries fell sharply. The economic historian Gregory Clark describes this phenomenon with the phrase " Today beggars live like princes, and princes as the Emperor ."

The rapid growth of living standards continued throughout the 20th century into account, we continued. The unequal distribution of living standards in the U.S. took after the Second World War from further, but increased since the 1970s. Today it is approximately at the level of the 1920s. Since the 1980s in many industrialized countries, including Germany, to observe an increase of both the living standards and social inequality.