What affects the quality of life of the population. Bogdanova E.E. Identification of factors influencing the standard of living of the world population. Objectives of statistics of living standards of the population

The standard of living is one of the most important social categories. The standard of living refers to the provision of the population with necessary material goods and services, the achieved level of their consumption and the degree of satisfaction of reasonable (rational) needs.

There are many systems of indicators for assessing the standard of living of the population. There is currently no single, generally accepted characterization of the level and quality of life of the population.

The standard of living is a multifaceted characteristic that depends on a variety of reasons. Among the most significant groups of factors identified by scientists are political, economic, social, scientific and technological progress and environmental factors. In addition, both natural and climatic conditions, as well as the presence or absence of human, labor, financial, information, and production resources can enhance or weaken the effect of factors.

The standard of living is influenced by many factors: on the one hand, the composition and magnitude of the constantly changing needs of the population; on the other hand, there are limitations in the ability to satisfy needs based on the situation in the market for goods and services, income of the population, wages of workers, which are determined by the scale and efficiency of production, the service sector, the state of scientific and technical progress, the cultural and educational level of the population and its structure, national characteristics, political and economic situation in the country. All factors are closely interrelated, interdependent and require comprehensive consideration when solving the problem of increasing the standard of living in the country.

To a large extent, the standard of living depends on household income and the price of goods. Most people don't expect their income to increase, or at least not decrease, and this can only be achieved if there is economic growth. High unemployment can make people less confident about their prospects, and the future of their children. Also, problems such as environmental pollution, access to medical services and education also affect the standard of living.

But the standard of living should not be measured only by quantitative indicators. Each person determines for himself the impact of economic growth, unemployment, environmental pollution, and so on on his standard of living; people make subjective assessments of their standard of living.

GDP per capita indicates the extent of a country's wealth and its ability to provide a higher standard of living. It is GDP per capita that we will use as an indicator of living standards for econometric analysis. GDP is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products.

As part of the basic statistical analysis, we will determine the leaders and outsiders for this indicator; the data is presented in Table 1.

Table 1-Leading and outsider countries in terms of GDP per capita

place	leading country			outsider country	GDP per capita (current US dollars)
				Congo, Dem. Rep.
	Macao SAR, China
				Central African Republic

source:

The leaders are mainly European countries, small countries with small populations and rich oil countries. It is in these countries that the standard of living is the highest; outsider countries are mainly represented by poor African countries.

Figure 1 - Dynamics of average world GDP per capita *

Source:

Over half a century, average annual GDP per capita has increased almost 20 times; decline and stagnation are observed during crisis periods of the world economy.

To identify factors influencing the standard of living of the population, we will conduct a correlation analysis. For this analysis, official statistics for 2009-2012 were used for 186 countries. The dependent variable is GDP per capita (NY.GDP.PCAP.CD) for 2012, the indicator is published on the World Bank website. The symbols of the indicators used in the work are given in Table 2.

Table 2 - Unconfirmed factors hypothetically affecting the standard of living of the world population.

Index	Designation	Source
Unemployment, total (% of total labor force)	SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS
Health care expenditure per capita (current US dollars)	SH.XPD.PCAP	World Health Organization National Health Accounts (http://apps.who.int/nha/database/DataExplorerRegime.aspx)
HIV prevalence, total (% of population aged 15-49 years)	SH.DYN.AIDS.ZS	According to UNAIDS estimates.
		Continuation of Table 2
Access to electricity (% of population)	EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS	International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook. (IEA OECD/IEA Statistics,http://www.iea.org/stats/index.asp)
CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita)	EN.ATM.CO2E.PC	Carbon Dioxide Clearinghouse, Division of Environmental Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, USA
Ease of Doing Business Index (1 = most business people rule)	IC.BUS.EASE.XQ	World Bank, Doing Business project (http://www.doingbusiness.org/).
Consumer price inflation (annual%)	FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG	International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics and Data.
Government expenditure on education, total (% of government expenditure)	SE.XPD.TOTL.GB.ZS
Legal rights strength index (0 = weak to 10 = strong)	IC.LGL.CRED.XQ	World Bank, Doing Business Project (http://www.doingbusiness.org/).
Real interest rate, (%)	FR.INR.RINR	International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics and data files using World Bank data on the GDP deflator.
Expenditure per student, (% of GDP per capita)	SE.XPD.PRIM.PC.ZS	UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Expenditure per student, average (% of GDP per capita)	SE.XPD.SECO.PC.ZS	UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Qualified teachers in primary education (% of all teachers)	SE.PRM.TCAQ.ZS	UNESCO Institute for Statistics
Births attended by qualified medical personnel (% of total)	SH.STA.BRTC.ZS	UNICEF, State of the World's Children, ChildInfo and Demographic and Health Surveys by ICF International.
Pregnant women receiving antenatal care (%)	SH.STA.ANVC.ZS	WHO and UNICEF (http://www.who.int/immunization_monitoring/routine/en/).
Minimum salary in US dollars at PPP	MIN.WAGE	International Labor Organization (ILO), Core Labor Market Database Indicators (http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtravail/).

Source:

The sample for analysis consists of 17 hypothetically influencing factors, an indicator of the standard of living (GDP per capita) and 186 countries of the world. For a more accurate analysis, it is necessary to take the logarithm of GDP per capita and healthcare costs, since the maximum and minimum values ​​of these indicators are very different, this will normalize the indicator. We will calculate the Pearson correlation coefficients for 17 indicators in pairs. Let's create a correlation matrix. The obtained values ​​are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 - Pearson correlation coefficients

lnNY.GDP.PCAP.CD

SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS

LnSH.XPD.PCAP

SH.DYN.AIDS.ZS

EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS

EN.ATM.CO2E.PC

IC.BUS.EASE.XQ

FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG

SE.XPD.TOTL.GB.ZS

IC.LGL.CRED.XQ

FR.INR.RINR

SE.XPD.PRIM.PC.ZS

SE.XPD.SECO.PC.ZS

SE.PRM.TCAQ.ZS

SH.STA.BRTC.ZS

SH.STA.ANVC.ZS

MIN.WAGE

lnNY.GDP.PCAP.CD

Pearson correlation

Value(2 sides)

**. The correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-sided).

*. The correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-sided).

To establish the relationship between the selected indicators, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used. The results obtained contain: the Pearson correlation coefficient, the number of pairs of variable values ​​used (N) and the probability of error (p), corresponding to the assumption of non-zero correlation. Statistical processing was carried out using the PASW Statistics 18 program.

Let us present the Pearson correlation values ​​for some of the indicators under consideration graphically and construct scatter plots for each indicator (Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Graphical representation of the dependence of indicators on GDP per capita

After conducting a correlation analysis, the result was identified in the form of five indicators that have the strongest connection with GDP per capita with a Pearson correlation coefficient greater than 0.7. These are government spending on education, access to electricity, the ease of doing business index, skilled births and the minimum wage. Countries that have a high level of education, healthcare and provide the population with social needs are countries with a high standard of living. However, there are twelve indicators that have a significant correlation at the level of 0.01(**), these include healthcare costs, HIV prevalence, access to electricity, CO2 emissions, CPI, government spending on education, strength of legal rights, real interest rate, cost per student, professional births, skilled maternity care, and minimum wage. At the same time, the HIV prevalence indicator is characterized by an inverse linear relationship, as well as consumer price inflation and the real interest rate. The negative correlation coefficient of the ease of doing business index indicates a direct relationship, as it is measured on a nominal scale, and values ​​close to 1 indicate the largest number of business people in the country. Health expenditure is characterized by ineffective use of funds, since this indicator does not contribute to improving living standards. The inverse relationship between GDP per capita and the real interest rate suggests that countries with a high standard of living have lower interest rates on loans than countries with a low standard of living. However, the relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and GDP per capita is direct, which suggests that the higher the standard of living in a country, the more the country uses CO 2-emitting industries. The indicator of delivery by qualified medical personnel and the indicator of assistance to pregnant women are characterized by a direct relationship, which indicates the importance of increasing this indicator for achieving a high standard of living in countries; a similar relationship is observed with the minimum wage indicator.

Next, we will conduct factor analysis in order to generalize and reduce the variables. Factor analysis is a procedure by which a large number of variables related to existing observations is reduced to a smaller number of independent influencing quantities, called factors. For this purpose, there are data from 12 factors for 186 countries, selected through correlation analysis.

To carry out the analysis, we will use the principal component method to determine the coefficients of the factors. It is advisable to use it, since we need to determine the minimum number of factors that make the maximum contribution to the data dispersion, in order to then use them in multivariate analysis. The number of factors selected in this case is equal to the number of eigenvalues ​​exceeding one according to the Kaiser criterion. This means that if a factor does not highlight the variance of one variable, then it is omitted. This criterion, introduced by Kaiser in 1960, is the most widely used.

Rotation is used to rotate the factor coefficient matrix, resulting in it being transformed into the simplest matrix possible. Thus, we activate the method of rotating the Virimax factor structure. This is an orthogonal rotation that minimizes the number of variables with high factor loadings. This method is the most used because it facilitates the interpretation of factors.

Let's consider the calculation results. First, the primary statistics are presented (Table 4).

Table 4 - Total explained variance

Component		Initial eigenvalues			Sums of squared extraction loads			Sums of squares of rotational loads
			% Variance	Cumulative %		% Variance	Cumulative %		% Variance	Cumulative %
Extraction method: Principal component analysis.

Introduction

Problems of the level and quality of life are among the most pressing. The reason is the economic crisis of 2008-2010, against the background of which there was a deep decline in the level and quality of life of the bulk of the Russian population.

Our well-being directly depends on the correct social policy of the state, which, in turn, depends on whether there is enough information and how fully it shows the problems in modern Russian society. The direction and pace of further transformations in the country and, ultimately, political and, consequently, economic stability in society largely depend on solving problems of the level and quality of life. Solving these problems requires a certain policy developed by the state, the central point of which would be the person, his well-being, physical and social health. That is why all the transformations, which, one way or another, may lead to a change in the standard of living, arouse great interest among a wide variety of segments of the population.

This paper examines in more detail the main indicators of the quality of life in Russia and methods for assessing quality. The purpose of this work is to study the factors that determine the dynamics of the standard of living of the population, analyze the degree of their influence and role in increasing this indicator.

To achieve this goal, the following tasks were selected:

1. Familiarize yourself with the concept and indicators of quality of life;

2. Analysis of factors affecting the quality of life;

3. Identification of problems and ways to solve them in Russia.

The object of the study is the quality of life of the population of Russia at the present stage.

1 Concept and indicators of the quality of life of the population

1.1 Concept of quality of life

Quality of life is a systemic concept determined by the unity of its components: the person himself as a biological and spiritual being, his life activity and the conditions in which it occurs. It follows that the nomenclature of quality of life indicators should include both objective characteristics of the person (or society), his life activities and living conditions, and subjective evaluative characteristics reflecting the subject’s attitude to the realities of his life.

The most reasonable is the interpretation of the quality of life of the population from the standpoint of understanding the essence of people’s lives as a process aimed generally at preserving and developing the life of mankind within the increasingly wider boundaries of natural conditions through creative activity and struggle, overcoming natural, personal and social contradictions and difficulties.

Concretizing this fundamental position in relation to the current state of the Russian population, the quality of life of Russians should be considered as the quality of life of a collective subject consisting of the qualities of life of each citizen. This “overall” quality of life requires improvement in all aspects and should be measured and assessed by objective and subjective indicators in relation to a target criterion (standard) focused on the real prospect of the country’s socio-economic development.

In addition, human life is understood as a process that implements, on the one hand, the genetically specified preservation, development and reproduction of a person, and, on the other hand, a targeted transformation of external objects and himself generated by the person himself. This process occurs in the natural and social environment through complex, including competitive, interaction with various objects and subjects that “inhabit” these environments.

Therefore, the quality of life is determined, first of all, by the first factor, the internal capabilities inherent in a certain person (or society) to carry out life processes - life potential. The second factor in the quality of life is the procedural and productive characteristics of life in relation to people’s needs, interests, values ​​and goals. The third factor in the quality of life is external opportunities, i.e. properties of environments, objects and subjects. They must be such that the vital functions of the first direction can be carried out unconditionally, and the functions of the second direction would have a significant probability of achieving goals for people who want to do this and are ready to make the necessary efforts for this.

From the above follows the definition of the concept of “quality of life”, which forms the basis for the development of a nomenclature of indicators: the quality of life of a person (individual or society) is an evaluative category of a person’s life, generally characterizing the parameters of all components of his life: life potential, life activity and living conditions (tools, resources and environment) in relation to some objective or subjective standard.

Thus, the quality of life of the population is determined by the life potential of society, its social groups, individual citizens and the correspondence of the characteristics of processes, means, conditions and results of their life activities to socially positive needs, values ​​and goals. The quality of life is manifested in people’s subjective satisfaction with themselves and their lives, as well as in the objective characteristics characteristic of human life as a biological, mental (spiritual) and social phenomenon.

1.2 Indicators and integral properties of quality of life

When determining quality of life, there are two types of indicators: objective and subjective.

Objective indicators of quality of life: natural and social.

Subjective indicators of quality of life: cognitive (assessments of overall life satisfaction and assessments of satisfaction with various areas of life) and emotional [7, p. 32].

In addition to these indicators, there are also several indicators that can be grouped according to a number of characteristics.

Depending on the hierarchical level:

Macro indicators: per capita GDP, GNP or NNP; nominal and real incomes of the population; demographic indicators; length of the working week; free time; inflation rate, etc.;

Micro-indicators characterizing the satisfaction of basic needs at the individual or family level.

Depending on the nature of the reflection of the essence of the category “standard of living”:

Direct, characterizing the standard of living directly, directly, for example, the level of consumption of basic foodstuffs, etc.;

Indirect, reflecting the standard of living indirectly, indirectly, for example, demographic indicators.

Depending on the nature of the calculation:

Level (absolute values);

Structural (components of level indicators);

Dynamic (relative, characterizing changes in level indicators).

Depending on the group of needs, the satisfaction of which is characterized by one or another indicator. Three main groups of needs can be distinguished:

Physical needs;

Spiritual (intellectual) needs;

Social needs .

Thus, there are various indicators and indicators that can be used to characterize the quality of life in detail.

Research gives reason to believe that the economic category “quality of life of the population” can be defined as “formed in the mass consciousness, a generalized assessment of the totality of characteristics of the living conditions of the population.” These characteristics can be considered using seven integral properties of quality of life:

1. The quality of the population, integrating such properties as the ability to reproduce (fertility, mortality, morbidity, disability, life expectancy, etc.), the ability to form and maintain families (marriage rate, divorce rate), level of education and qualifications (proportion population enrolled in education in the relevant age groups, achieved level of education, etc.).

2. Well-being. The material aspect of well-being is characterized by indicators of income, current consumption and savings of the population (the amount of income in real terms, their distribution by areas of use and various socio-economic groups of the population, the structure of consumer expenditures of the population, the presence of durable consumer goods in households, the accumulation of property and valuables etc.), as well as such macroeconomic indicators as GDP per capita, actual household consumption, consumer price index, unemployment and poverty levels.

3. Living conditions of the population. The concept of “living conditions” includes the characteristics of housing conditions, provision of the population with health care, education, culture, use of free time, social and geographic mobility, etc.

4. Awareness of the population, characterizing accessibility to telecommunications and information infrastructures (mobile radio operators, information resources, Internet technologies, etc.).

5. Social security (or the quality of the social sphere), reflecting working conditions, social security and social protection, physical and property security.

6. Environmental quality (or the quality of an ecological niche), accumulating data on air pollution, water pollution, soil quality, the level of biodiversity of the territory, etc.

7. Natural and climatic conditions, characterized by climatic conditions, frequency and specificity of force majeure situations (floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and other natural disasters).

1.3 Methods for assessing quality of life and the human development index as one of the methods

As for the methods for assessing the quality of life of the population, based on the complexity of the object under study and the large number of indicators being analyzed, it can be argued that not one, but a whole complex of research methods is needed here: statistical, sociological, economic and mathematical.

Today, the most promising method for assessing the quality of life of the population seems to be the sociological method, which allows one to obtain rich information about the social differentiation of the quality of life and the problems of meeting the specific needs of various groups and segments of the population.

Analysis of the information obtained during sociological surveys allows us to obtain a more detailed picture of the functioning of social services that have a direct impact on the life of the Russian population.

Sociological research is currently the methodological tool that allows, through private opinions and judgments of the population, to identify pain points in the social infrastructure and outline ways to overcome them.

Less promising, but also in demand at present, is the statistical research method. The subject of the statistical method is a detailed study of socio-demographic processes. Economic statistics examines economic phenomena in close relationship with social processes, and the same indicators can be used to analyze both economic and social aspects. For example, wage indicators characterize, on the one hand, production costs (economic factor), and on the other, the process of income distribution (social factor).

The economic-mathematical method of research consists in constructing a model (an image of a real process or phenomenon), i.e., the possibility of studying a real process not directly, but through consideration of a similar and more accessible one.

So, when assessing the quality of life, one method is not enough, so several research methods are used. These methods make it possible to obtain rich information about the quality of life and the problems of meeting the needs of various groups and segments of the population.

One of the most important methods is the human development index.

The Human Development Index (HDI) is an economic index used to characterize the quality of life in various countries [4, p. 71].

Depending on the HDI value, countries are usually classified according to their level of development: high (0.8-1), medium (0.5-0.8) and low (0-0.5) level.

The HDI includes three indicators:

Average life expectancy at birth (ALE) - assesses longevity;

The country's adult literacy rate and total enrollment ratio;

Standard of living assessed through GDP per capita.

Longevity describes the ability to live a long and healthy life, which is a natural life choice and one of the basic universal human needs. The basic indicator of longevity is life expectancy, characterized by the average life expectancy at birth. This indicator, calculated separately for the male and female population, is calculated on the basis of a conventional generation, which is made up of the totality of people of different ages who died in a given year.

Education is considered as the ability to obtain and accumulate knowledge, to communicate, and exchange information. Characteristics of education are literacy of the adult population and completeness of education coverage. Literacy refers to a person's ability to read, understand and write short, simple text relevant to their daily life. The adult literacy rate - the proportion of literate people aged 15 years and older - serves as the most important basic indicator of this area of ​​​​human development.

Standard of living characterizes access to material resources necessary for a decent existence, including “maintaining a healthy lifestyle, ensuring territorial and social mobility, exchanging information and participating in society.” The standard of living, in contrast to longevity and education, only opens up the opportunities available to a person, but does not determine their use. In other words, it is a means of expanding the possibility of choice, but not the choice itself.

2 The welfare of Russians at the present stage

2.1 Components of the population support system

Of the seven integral properties of the quality of life, we can analyze those that are most often used in calculations: the quality of the population and the level of well-being.

1. Quality of the population.

Based on the properties considered in the first part of the work that make up the environment and the life support system of the population, data on the birth and death rates of the population for a certain period of time are provided.

According to Table 1, it can be seen that, starting in 2007, the birth rate begins to increase. In many ways, this increase depends on the emergence of such “social support” as maternal (family) capital. The main essence of maternity capital is its social assistance in the form of monetary allowance (amount of 343 thousand 378 rubles 80 kopecks). The advantages are as follows:

If before the introduction of maternity capital, while the mother is caring for the child, the funded part of her future pension is not formed, since there are no contributions for the formation of a pension from the child care benefit, now maternity capital allows you to add a substantial amount to the funded part of the pension.

Many families are improving their living conditions, which significantly improves their quality of life.

The decrease in the next indicator, the mortality rate, can be explained by the fact that the state began to pay more attention to the level and quality of life of the population through various programs, such as: increasing the level of pensions, social support for large and low-income families, programs to reduce poverty, etc. .

2. Well-being.

To characterize well-being, you can analyze data on the size of the population with monetary incomes below the subsistence level.

Table 2 shows that, for example, in 2009, the number of people with monetary incomes below the subsistence level decreased by 45.7 people compared to 2008. It can be seen that there is a trend towards reducing poverty. The significant increase was mainly due to the increase in the level of pension provision to the subsistence level. This means that we can say that the state is interested in improving the well-being of the population and improving their quality of life.

It is necessary to analyze where Russia stands in relation to the countries of the world and what this may depend on.

Table 3 shows that every year Russia, in terms of its rating, moves further and further away from countries with a very high HDI (a total of 169 countries were considered). If in 1980 - 1990 Russia was among the top thirty countries in terms of HDI, then since 1993 it has dropped to the middle of the list of countries in the world, this is due to the deterioration of all three indicators (life expectancy, level of education, GDP), especially longevity and GDP per capita .

It should be noted that the main indicators of the quality of life in most countries of the world have grown over these years, while in Russia they have decreased, marked time, or slightly temporarily increased with rising oil prices.

In 2009, Russia took 71st place, rising two steps relative to 2008, mainly due to oil and gas revenues. 2008 was a milestone, the peak of growth in oil and gas revenues (the average price for oil was $69 per barrel, revenues from oil exports were $220 billion).

Russia's HDI nevertheless increased and finally exceeded the cherished 0.8 (level = 0.802). That is, Russia has become one of the countries with a high level of HDI. Now the Russian Federation occupies a place between Bosnia and Albania. Russia is distinguished by a high level of education of the population (as a legacy of the USSR) and low life expectancy (according to this indicator, Russia ranked 135th in 2003, behind even such countries as Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Iraq).

In 2009, Russia is ahead of Brazil (75th place), Turkey (79th place), Kazakhstan (89th place) and Ukraine (85th place). At the same time, Russia is behind Albania (70), Belarus (68), Venezuela (58), Cuba (51), as well as the Baltic republics - Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (48, 46 and 40 places, respectively). Russia's lag behind these countries (with the exception of the Baltic countries) is mainly due to the low average life expectancy. For example, Belarusians have a GDP per capita of 10.8 versus 14.7 thousand dollars in the Russian Federation. But the average life expectancy is 69 years versus Russia’s 66.2. For Ukrainians this figure is 68.2 years, and for Georgians - 71.6. The Baltic countries have better all indicators. The leaders in the HDI ranking are Norway, Australia, Iceland, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Japan (top ten).

As for the United States, ten years ago it was in the top ten and ranked second (Canada, USA, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, France, the Netherlands, Japan and New Zealand). Some of these countries retained their places in the top ten, only by changing the place number, but the United States, it seems, fell out of the “top ten” for the first time in its history and is now only in 12th place.

Thus, the most common and popular indicator and indicator of the quality of life and level of development of countries in the world is the Human Development Index (HDI), which depends on three indicators: life expectancy, level of education and GDP per capita.

2.3 Concept of the long-term target program “Social support for the population of Russia” for 2011-2013

Currently, social protection of the population is one of the few sectors, the volume of which is constantly increasing, covering an ever larger part of the population, and the range of issues within its scope is constantly expanding.

Among the priority tasks in 2009 was and remains to support people who find themselves in difficult situations. Carrying out an effective social policy aimed at improving the quality of life of the population and ensuring a high level of social protection for low-income and socially vulnerable categories of Russian residents are priority areas in the social sphere.

Measures aimed at improving the quality of life of the population must be targeted and differentiated. The principle of targeting implies a system of social protection that concentrates public resources on providing assistance to the most vulnerable segments of the population, regardless of their belonging to any category. A differentiated approach to determining the types of social support depending on financial situation, age, degree of ability to work and other specific life circumstances will help those citizens who really need state help.

The Government of the Russian Federation and executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are taking measures to improve the level and quality of life of the population. Pensions, various types of benefits and compensation are increasing. However, there is a need to take additional measures to provide social support to the least protected segments of the population: elderly citizens living alone, disabled people, families with disabled children, single-parent families, large low-income families.

The Constitution of the Russian Federation proclaims that Russia is a social state whose policy is aimed at creating conditions that ensure a decent life and free development of people. A social state is understood as a state whose main task is to achieve social progress that is based on the principles of social equality, universal solidarity and mutual responsibility enshrined in law. Article 7 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation also states that in Russia the labor and health of people are protected, a guaranteed minimum wage is established, state support is provided for the family, motherhood, paternity and childhood, the disabled and elderly citizens, Article 39 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation establishes state pensions, benefits and other guarantees of social protection.

To solve the set tasks, it is necessary that the main conditions for the provision of social assistance to the population should be considered not only poverty and the presence of a difficult life situation, which the applicant could not cope with on his own, using all available methods, but also other circumstances that objectively influence citizens’ assessment of their situation and level life.

The goals of the program are:

Assisting citizens living in Russia in maintaining their standard of living and creating conditions for getting out of difficult life situations;

Contributing to improving the living conditions of older people and improving its quality;

Promoting the active participation of veteran organizations of the region in public life, work with veterans and pensioners.

The implementation of the main goal of the Program is achieved by solving the following tasks:

Providing one-time targeted financial assistance to citizens in difficult life situations;

Providing one-time targeted financial assistance to socially vulnerable families living in houses with stove heating that require repairs;

Providing additional measures of social support to improve the quality of life of older citizens (financial assistance for housing repairs for pensioners living alone over 65 years of age, compensation for expenses of home front workers for the installation of landline phones, targeted social assistance to widows of disabled people and participants of the Great Patriotic War who died before June 12, 1990 year, for the installation (replacement) of a monument, tombstone;

Compensation for travel expenses throughout the Russian Federation once a year for rehabilitated persons);

Creating conditions for the participation of veteran organizations in the life of society, in organizing and conducting advisory and other work with veterans and pensioners through the provision of social assistance.

The implementation of a long-term target program will make it possible to economically distribute budget funds, taking into account an individual assessment of the situation in each case, which in turn will ensure the availability of state support for citizens in need to the required extent and will provide equal opportunities for consumer choice with the rest of the population.

The end result of the activities implemented within the framework of this program should be a reduction in differentiation in monetary income both between population groups and between territories of the region.

Thus, from the analysis carried out, the following conclusions can be drawn:

The quality and well-being of the population, as properties that make up the environment and the system for supporting the life of the population, begins to gradually improve thanks to various social programs. This means that the state is interested in improving the well-being of the population and improving their quality of life.

According to the Human Development Index, Russia's ranking is moving further and further away from countries with a high level of this indicator. Consequently, the state needs to think about the impact on indicators such as life expectancy, level of education and GDP per capita, which are used in calculating the index.

The state is taking various measures to improve the level and quality of life of the population. Pensions, various types of benefits and compensation are increasing. However, there is a need to take additional measures to provide social support to the least protected segments of the population: elderly citizens living alone, disabled people, families with disabled children, single-parent families, large low-income families.

Conclusion

The quality of life of the population is determined by the life potential of society, its social groups, individual citizens and the correspondence of the characteristics of processes, means, conditions and results of their life activities to socially positive needs, values ​​and goals. The quality of life is manifested in people’s subjective satisfaction with themselves and their lives, as well as in the objective characteristics characteristic of human life as a biological, mental (spiritual) and social phenomenon.

The category “quality of life” is reduced to seven integral properties: quality of life and well-being are the main components, living conditions of the population, public awareness, social security, environmental quality and natural and climatic conditions that make up the environment and system for supporting the life of the population.

The most common and popular indicator and indicator of the quality of life and level of development of countries around the world is the Human Development Index (HDI), which depends on three indicators: life expectancy, level of education and GDP per capita.

The problem of quality of life is a priority for solving socio-economic problems at any level.

The analysis showed that the concept of “quality of life” is a complex derivative of statistical, sociological, economic and mathematical factors that determine a person’s position in society. In the practical application of the concept of quality of life, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “quality of life”, “lifestyle”, “conditions” and “standard of living”. Quality of life shows the effectiveness of people's lifestyle. The standard and living conditions are structural components of the quality of life.

As for the human development index, we can say that although Russia is in 71st place in its rating, it still reached 0.8 and began to belong, according to the accepted classification, to countries with a high level of development. But although the mark has been reached, the state still needs to think about the impact on indicators such as life expectancy, level of education and GDP per capita, so that Russia can rise higher in the ranking.

The quality of life of the population is influenced by the state policy of regulating economic processes.

At the present stage, the state is taking various measures to improve the level and quality of life of the population, which is already yielding certain results in the form of increasing the well-being of the population and reducing poverty.

List of sources used

1. Bazhenov, S.A. Quality of life of the population: theory and practice / S.A. Bazhenov. - M.: ECOS, 2002. - 178 p.

2. Vasilyeva, E.K. Statistics: textbook. allowance / E.K. Vasilyeva. - M.: Finance, 2008. - 399 p.

3. Vasiliev, V.P. Quality and standard of living of the population of the Russian Federation / V.P. Vasiliev. - M.: ECOS, 2007. - 117 p.

4. Gusarov, V.M. Statistics: textbook. allowance / V.M. Gusarov. - M.: UNITY-DANA, 2007. - 479 p.

5. Eliseeva, I.I. Sociology / I.I. Eliseeva. - M.: ECOS, 2003. - 656 p.

6. Zlobina, G.Yu. Quality of life: structural components and promising directions of development / G.Yu. Zlobina. - M.: Sotsium, 2007. - 96 p.

7. Miroyedov, A.A. Quality of life in statistical indicators of socio-economic development / A.A. Miroyedov. - M.: Questions of Statistics, 2008. - 125 p.

8. Prokhorov, N.V. Human ecology / N.V. Prokhorov. - M.: ECOS, 2007. - 349 p.

9. Serov, N.K. Social statistics / N.K. Serov. - M.: Finance and Statistics, 1999. - 346 p.

10. Official website of VTsIOM (All-Russian Center for Public Opinion Research). [Electronic resource]. Update date 10/03/2010. - URL: http://www. Wciom.ru (date of access: 10/03/2010).

Quality of life is the most important social category, which characterizes the structure of human needs and the possibility of satisfying them.

Some researchers, when defining the concept of “quality of life,” focus much attention on the economic side, the material security of life of the population. There is also an opposite point of view, according to which the quality of life is the most integrated social indicator.

Quality of life of the population- this is the degree of satisfaction of material, spiritual and social.

A person suffers from a low quality of life and experiences satisfaction from a high quality of life, regardless of the area in work, business and personal life. Therefore, quality is constantly necessary for a person. A person himself strives to improve the quality of life - he gets an education, works at work, strives to move up the career ladder, and makes every effort to achieve recognition in society.

The main indicators of the quality of life of the population are:

• (average per capita nominal and real incomes, indicators of income differentiation, nominal and real accrued average wages, average and real amounts of assigned pensions, the cost of living and the share of the population with incomes below the subsistence level, minimum wages and pensions, etc.);
• quality nutrition(calorie content, composition of products);
• quality and fashion clothes;

• comfort dwellings(total area of ​​occupied housing per inhabitant);
• quality (number of hospital beds per 1000 inhabitants);
• quality social services(rest and);
• quality (number of universities and secondary specialized educational institutions, proportion of students in the population);
• quality (publishing books, brochures, magazines);
• quality of service sector;
• quality environment, leisure structure;
• (indicators of life expectancy, mortality, marriage rate, divorce rate);
• security (number of registered crimes).

System of indicators of the quality of life of the population

Income of the population:

• final consumption expenditures;
• average per capita cash income;
• income from labor and economic activities of households;
• share of deposits in household expenses;
• purchasing currency;
• purchase of securities;
• real estate;
• land for personal use;
• availability of passenger cars per 100 families;
• household disposable resources;
• minimum wage;
• minimum pension;
• minimum consumer budget;
• decile differentiation coefficient;
• fund ratio;
• income concentration coefficient (Gini coefficient);
• ratio of shares of food expenditures for different quantile groups of the population;

The cost of living:

• price indices for consumer goods;
• the cost of all types of services, including household, housing and communal services and social sector services;
• living wage;

Population consumption:

• expenses and savings;
• consumption of staple foods;
• energy and nutritional value of products;

Basic integral indicators of population life:

• ratio of income and expenses;
• the ratio of average per capita income to the cost of living;
• the amount of the conditionally free part of disposable income;
• Poverty level:
• poverty line;
• population with incomes below the subsistence level;

Providing and covering the population with infrastructure facilities and technical means of the sectoral social sphere:

• number of consumer services enterprises;
• number of educational institutions;
• number of students;
• number of medical personnel;
• number of cultural and recreational institutions;

Demographic parameters:

• permanent population size;
• gender and age composition of the population;
• total fertility rate;
• life expectancy at birth;
• crude mortality rate;
• marriage rate;
• number of households;

Statistics of the standard of living of the population

- represents an economic category. This is the level of provision of the population with necessary material goods and services.

The standard of living is the level of well-being of the population, consumption of goods and services, a set of conditions and indicators that characterize the extent to which people’s basic life needs are satisfied.

At present, when the economic systems of countries are subject to deformation and modification, the main goal remains implementation of the principle of social orientation of the market economy by improving the standard of living of the population.

System of statistical indicators of the standard of living of the population

As main comprehensive characteristics of the standard of living of the population currently used (HDI), calculated as the integral of three components: life expectancy at birth, achieved level of education.

To compare living standards in different countries, the following indicators are also used in world practice:

• Volume
• Consumption structure
• Life expectancy at birth
• Infant death rate

The agreed standard of living of citizens of the Russian Federation is determined by the following main indicators:

• volume of gross domestic product per capita;
• volume of production of essential goods;
• inflation rate;
• unemployment rate;
• the amount of real income per capita;
• the population's ability to invest in themselves and the economy;
• the ratio of the cost of living and the minimum wage;
• the number of citizens with incomes below the subsistence level;
• share of government spending on education, culture, health care and social security;
• the ratio of the average pension to the cost of living;
• human life expectancy;
• the ratio of birth rate and death rate of the population;
• volume of retail turnover;
• deviation of the state of the environment from standards.

Objectives of statistics of living standards of the population

The main objectives of statistics on the standard of living of the population are: the study of the actual well-being of the population, as well as the factors that determine the living conditions of the country's citizens in accordance with economic growth; measuring the degree of satisfaction of needs for material goods and services in relation to social conditions and production development.

Particular attention should be paid to the task of studying the patterns of formation and regional-dynamic trends in the standard of living of the country's population as a whole, as well as in the context of individual socio-demographic groups of the population and types of households.

The basis for constructing a system of indicators and solving these problems are materials from macroeconomic statistics, demographic statistics, labor statistics, trade statistics, and price statistics. A significant amount of information collected is based on data from financial and accounting reports, the state tax service, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, etc., as well as on materials from special surveys, censuses, and surveys.

Main sources of information are the balance of monetary income and expenditure of the population and sample surveys of households.

The balance of monetary income and expenditure of the population is built at the federal and regional levels and is the basis for constructing macroeconomic indicators. It reflects the volume and structure of the population's funds, taking the form of income, expenses and savings. The income of the population is grouped in the balance sheet according to the sources of funds and areas of their spending.

One of the types of state statistical monitoring of the standard of living of the population is sample household budget surveys. These surveys make it possible to obtain data for the accounts of the “Households” sector in , the distribution of income of various groups and segments of the population, and also to identify the dependence of the level of material well-being of a household on its size and family composition, source of income, and employment of family members in various sectors of the economy.

Currently, in accordance with the transition to international standards according to the SNA methodology, new macroeconomic indicators of living standards are being introduced. These include gross household disposable income, gross adjusted household disposable income, household final consumption expenditure and actual household final consumption.

Characteristics of the standard of living of the population

To characterize the standard of living, quantitative and qualitative indicators are used. Quantitative - determine the volume of consumption of specific goods and services, and qualitative - the qualitative side of the well-being of the population.

The standard of living is characterized by a whole block of indicators:

• consumer basket
• average
• income difference
• life expectancy
• the level of education
• food consumption structure
• development of the service sector
• housing provision
• state of the environment
• degree of realization of human rights

Ten countries with the highest and lowest life expectancy at birth, both sexes, years, 2005 (WPDS)*

46. ​​Public health. Multifactorial conditioning of health. Attitudes to health at different

levels of the social system. The individual’s attitude towards their health, at the level of social groups, at the state level, at the society level.

Based on the degree of activity, an active and passive attitude to health is distinguished.

According to the degree of adequacy to the principles of a healthy lifestyle: self-preserving and inadequate, self-destructive.

Attitude to individual health includes:

the individual’s self-assessment of his own health status;

attitude to health as a life value;

satisfaction with your health and life in general;

health maintenance activities.

Attitudes to health at the group level(family, work or educational team) includes:

Assessing the health status of the group and its individual members;

Established social norms of attitude towards health;

Real actions to improve the health of group members;

Attitude to health at the state level is also due to documentation relating to labor protection, public health and healthcare.

Attitudes to health at the societal level it is a system of opinions and social norms that are consistent in society regarding health and are expressed in actions aimed at changing the state of public health at various levels of government.”

• 47. Public health. Quality of life, definition. Using a method for assessing quality of life in medicine. Factors influencing quality of life. Basic provisions of the concept of quality of life.

The quality of life- the optimal state and degree of perception by individuals and the population as a whole of how their needs are met (physical, emotional, social, etc.) and opportunities are provided to achieve well-being and self-realization (quality of living conditions, nutrition, level of comfort, job satisfaction, communication ).

Use of quality of life assessment:

to assess the severity of the patient’s condition;

to assess the effectiveness of treatment;

for use as an additional criterion in the selection of individualized therapy;

for possible use for the purpose of assessing work capacity;

for clinical evaluation of new drugs.

Factors influencing quality of life:

high social and medical activity, high level of general, hygienic culture, social optimism;

high labor activity, job satisfaction;

physical and mental comfort, harmonious development of physical, mental, intellectual abilities;

improvement of the environment, high environmental activity, environmentally conscious behavior;

high physical activity;

rational balanced nutrition;

absence of bad habits (alcohol abuse, smoking, drugs, etc.);

good family relationships, comfortable living conditions.

Standard of living- this is the sphere of quantitatively measured indicators of consumption of material and spiritual values. Such indicators include the structure of income and expenses of the population, the provision of housing, educational institutions, trade, recreation, medical care, indicators of public health, demographic processes, etc. The standard of living characterizes people’s livelihoods only in the sphere of consumption.

Life style manifests itself in the form of individual characteristics of the way of thinking, behavior, as one of the manifestations of life and activity.

Way of life- the order within which people’s life activities take place: regulations of social life, work, life, rest.

• 48. Public health. The quality of life. Tools for assessing health-related quality of life. Questionnaires, types, qualities.

All questionnaires contain the main question “What is your quality of life?” They define different areas. These areas include physical functioning (mobility, physical well-being), emotional well-being (depression, anxiety or mental well-being), relationships with family, work, expectations and relationships between relationships and expectations, and social consequences of the disease.

Indicators: physical mobility, emotional state, sexual function, social status, cognitive function, economic status.

Types of questionnaires:

Oral interview with a doctor(more labor-intensive, however, allows you to obtain a high level of compliance, significantly reduces the possibility of errors, and there are practically no missing sections).

Self-completion of questionnaires includes many missing questions and topics in the questionnaire; it is possible to fill out questionnaires with a supervisor (medical or social worker).

Telephone survey(there is a possibility of clarification; the structure of the questionnaire should be extremely simple).

Written survey(the questionnaire is sent out in letters in an accessible form).

49. Public health.

The quality of life. Tools for assessing health-related quality of life. Visual analogue scales. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), life expectancy adjusted for health-related quality of life (QALE).

Visual analogue scales is used for an integral assessment of health status and is based on scales for individual assessment of priorities (values) at various levels of disability or impairment, adjusted for years of life lived as a result of various preventive and therapeutic measures. The QALY index is interesting because it takes into account such an aspect as quality of life. It is based on life expectancy indicators, taking into account the weights of various levels of health loss.

QALE is the number of years of full health that a person can live from the moment of birth. Quality-adjusted life expectancy is equal to the product of life expectancy at birth and average health-related quality of life. Therefore, it takes into account the effect of the disease on both quantity of life and quality of life (or only quantity of life, or only quality of life).

50. Public health.

Population health management, definition. The purpose of state policy in the field of health care (Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, Art. 45). Social protection of the population. Subjects and objects of social protection. Social protection measures. Social insurance. U population health management

– activities carried out at the state and regional level within the framework of health care development policy. Article 45.

“Citizens of the Republic of Belarus are guaranteed the right to health care, including free treatment in state health care institutions. The state creates conditions for accessible medical care for all citizens. The right of citizens of the Republic of Belarus to health protection is also ensured by the development of physical culture and sports, measures to improve the environment, the opportunity to use health institutions, and the improvement of labor protection.”

Social protection a system of measures carried out by society and its various structures to ensure guaranteed minimum sufficient living conditions, maintain the life support and active existence of a person.

Subject of social protection: the entire population, certain groups and segments of the population, or socially vulnerable groups of the population: large families, disabled people, non-working pensioners, the unemployed, as well as women.

Social protection of citizens provides for the implementation systems of measures, aimed at creating conditions that ensure economic and moral well-being, their respect in society, as well as providing them with appropriate rights and benefits for veterans of the Great Patriotic War, disabled people, families of fallen (deceased) military personnel, minor prisoners of fascist concentration camps, prisons, ghettos, and disabled people from childhood as a result of wounds, contusions, mutilations associated with military operations during the Great Patriotic War, families raising a disabled child, citizens affected by the Chernobyl accident.

Social protection measures:

Overcoming unemployment.

Establishing a minimum level of wages, pensions, scholarships.

Payment of child benefits.

Support for large families.

Monitoring compliance with children's rights.

Contributions to professional pension insurance are mandatory payments by the policyholder to generate funds for professional pensions. To assign payment of professional pensions, professional experience is required, which is the duration of work with special working conditions of the insured person, during which contributions to professional pension insurance were paid for him.

Principles of state social insurance:

mandatory participation of employers and working citizens in the formation of state extra-budgetary social insurance funds;

distribution of funds from able-bodied citizens to the disabled, from working to non-working;

guarantee of pensions, benefits and other payments in accordance with the law;

equality of citizens of the Republic of Belarus regardless of social status, race and nationality, gender, language, occupation, place of residence in the right to state social insurance;

differentiation of the conditions for assigning pensions, benefits, other payments for state social insurance and their sizes;

participation of representatives of legal entities and individuals paying contributions to state social insurance in the management of state social insurance.

51. Public health.

Population health management.

Preserving public health as a global strategic objective. Goal of the World Health Organization (WHO). Strategy of the WHO European Office, main objectives of HEALTH-21.

The World Health Organization is the largest international medical organization, a specialized agency of the UN. It consists of 194 states.

WHO's goal: achievement by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.

The European Office (in Copenhagen, Denmark) includes 56 WHO Member States.:

The goal of the HEALTH-21 policy

– achieving the fullest health potential for all people in the Region: to promote, maintain and protect the health of people throughout their lives, to reduce the incidence of major diseases and injuries and to reduce the amount and severity of suffering that they cause.

HEALTH21 policy strategies

Multisectoral strategies to improve the determinants of health, taking into account physical, economic, social, cultural and gender perspectives and using health impact assessments;