Standards of living?

Question

What is the standard of living like in your country? What do you measure it against? What changes would have to happen for you to want to leave, and where would you go?

I realise that this is a stream of questions, but they are all related, and I would like to hear some sensible answers - the world is changing, the imminent collapse of national economies is being predicted and immigration and unemployment are changing the socio-political-economic face of the world. Thoughts please?

Joss Stick - I like your point that standard of living is usually measured by 'stuff' - while the cultural and emotional support that we have gets forgotten. Any further ideas on this people? From those of us that have 'stuff' and those of us that don't (anlthough presumably we all have computers, putting us in a fairly elite group already)

Answer 1

a lot of us might just want to carry on with what our parents nurtured into us, regardless of whats changing. The one thing that we're safe in knowledge of, is that we know and understand what we were raised with, ie. the skills, mannerisms, habits and hopes, meals, bedtime stories, the list is endless and ultimately i think that these things are what sets our own standard of life, cos basically its all the control that we have have, but its in our own safety bubble. The world is changing, economies will collapse, and our neighbours will be different, but some things will never change.

Answer 2

The standards of living are generaly a function of: the further a country is away from the equator, the wealthier it is. You can find on www.un.int their Human Development Indicators ranking list; you can also view the page I put up some five years ago (is still quite accurate today):
Globalpolicy....kaiswork.htm

As for the other parts of the question - The three main changes that could make me want to leave are war; crime-waves; and relationship breakdown (which includes personal, family, community and employer relationships). In my case, being an EU citizen, having my right to work in the UK withdrawn would also do it.

I feel that things like measuring leisure time and budgets (including eating out and theatre-related), inequalities & poverty, electricity gas & water usage and health & education statistics are useful in determining whether or not a country's per capita income ranks it correctly (or is unduly influenced by a rich royal or corporate family).

I must point out that anything you may have read or heard about an imminent collapse of economies is theory, rumour or opinion.

Immigration: seeing were from and where to immigrants go (or wish to go) is a good indicator of where is better to live than where, but I feel that most immigrants aim to go to London, NY or Sydney only because they do not know enough about the thousands of other towns, villages and cities, rather than because they are better value-for-money destinations (as they are damned expensive to live in).

Answer 3

In America, our standards of living are high compared to other countries. Our economy has been on a decrease from a number of sources. I dont know why we are putting a value on standards of living in the first place. The rich stays rich and the poor gets eliminated. The system is supposed to be designed so that each citizen can live freely with a certain equality by their works. But it seems like the ones working the hardest are paid less. We spend money on things of no value instead of giving to the less fortunate. And basically, we want more for less when we should get what we earned. For me, there is no place to go. This is the best place to be as far as other countries. But pretty soon, if the way we govern ourselves doesnt change, divided we fall.

Answer 4

In the UK some twenty years ago your standard of living was mainly dictated by how hard you worked to succeed. Now since if you have worked to build a home and family this is seen as some kind of perversion it's better if you lay back,are unemployed and milk the system. Of course if your an immigrant or so called 'political refugee' life gets even better. What used to be called the middle class are hate figures to the Labour Party, New or Old and always have been. Their(Labours) tax system is geared to screw the middle classes and use the proceeds for all kinds of schemes,I wouldn't mind if they did anything with efficiency but they don't. Can you find a NHS dentist in your area?. No,thats strange the government have reformed NHS dentistry so there should be one on every corner.

Answer 5

Well I'm in America and the "standard of living" is different in every state. I'm in Northern NJ right on the outskirts of Manhattan so the standard of living is fast paced, expensive and basically an uncaring rat race. When I go to visit my fiances parents in Pennsylvania, a neighboring state, it's the complete opposite. I do measure how self absorbed and greedy this country is to that of other countries. We have also lost our culture, like say Frace and England they have culture, America has become a jumbled mess where half the population doesn't even speak English anymore. This country has become a disgrace. The so called "war on terror" and our so called "president" have made me want to leave this country, it's horrible what our president has done to the people of Iraq and thier country, in a way he is a terrorist himself. If I had to choose another country to live in I'd probably go with Ireland, I've never been but I have some family there and I'd love to check it out, otherwise I'd choose London.

Answer 6

in the UK I don't think people appreciate how high our standard of living is we are so lucky in comparison to many other countries.Even those people who are poor in comparison to other countries have much more...I think the worst thing is that we live in such a materialistic society we value "stuff" but aren't really happy because the things that matter have been left behind. family values and helping each other ,having community spirit and respect for each other is far more important than having the latest TV
So many people are unhappy through loneliness it doesn't matter how much stuff they have.

Answer 7

we are from different countries with different culture, different mores, and tradition, different values but at the end of the day, we always have to ask ourself: what do i want in life, what i want to be?. if you set
your ultimate goal, try hard to reach it and live it clean without hurting anyone, then you can be at peace with the world and with yourself.

Answer 8

God bless Tony Blair!

Now we all own DVD players, mobile phones, cars and ipods.

Of course, we can't afford dental treatment, prescriptions for medicine or the money to heat our homes or fuel our cars.

Answer 9

std of leaving: poor

Yardstick: cost of living through one day. one survives on less than a dollar in my country.

i am already struggling to get out. nothing could be this bad! i'ld say, Australia-

the world will never collapse, wat is going on is survival of the fittest in the name of capitalism, the so called 'free market system.'

am zambian.

Answer 10

http://www.economist.com/media/pdf/QUALITY_OF_LIFE.pdf
The link is very useful.