Elamiskvaliteeti

Elamiskvaliteeti, commonly translated as quality of life, is a broad concept in social science and public policy that refers to the general well-being of individuals and populations. It combines objective living conditions—such as income, health, housing quality, education, employment, and environmental security—with subjective experiences of satisfaction, happiness, and freedom of choice. In Finnish discourse, elämiskvaliteetti is connected to, but distinct from, measures of economic performance, and is often used as an overarching aim of welfare policies and urban planning.

The domain of elamiskvaliteeti includes material needs and security as well as non-material dimensions like social relationships, work-life balance, personal autonomy, safety, cultural participation, and environmental quality. Researchers distinguish between objective indicators (income levels, unemployment rates, life expectancy, housing conditions) and subjective indicators (life satisfaction, perceived stress, perceived safety, overall happiness). Internationally, quality-of-life measures are integrated into composite indices such as the OECD Better Life Index, the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index, and the World Happiness Report. National statistics offices also publish domain-specific indicators.

Policy relevance: elamiskvaliteeti informs policy design across health, education, housing, transportation, and social protection. It enables comparisons over time and across countries, helping governments identify priority areas to improve well-being beyond GDP growth.

Limitations: measuring quality of life involves value judgments and cultural differences in how people assess well-being. The use of composite indices can obscure trade-offs between domains and may not capture distributional aspects within a population.

See also: quality of life, subjective well-being, well-being economics.