Comprehensive approach to measuring well-being and quality of life considering human potential indicators

Abstract

The article is devoted to the prerequisites for the development of well-being comprehensive assessments, including assessment of various aspects of the individuals lives and society as a whole. Different approaches may include different aspects of well-being such as material well-being, health, education, subjective well-being, work, infrastructure, safety, housing, ecology, the structure of time budgets, civil rights, etc. Comprehensive assessments approaches became widely used after it was proven that specific economic indicators i.e. GDP or income level do not show a broad picture of people’s actual well-being. The chapter also summarizes and gives structure to key trends in the comprehensive approache development in well-being measuring, including multi-domain, methodological sophistication, correlation with strategic development goals in a certain territory, adjustment for inequality, the use of subjective and objective indicators, and reflection of human potential indicators. The authors show that the modern understanding of well-being and quality of life cannot be imagined without taking into account aspects of human development. Moreover, these concepts and approaches to their measurement are closely intertwined and their correlation requires further theoretical and methodological elaboration.