Standard of living

[Z-tight]

The prices of goods and services are increasing everywhere in the world, inflation being the major reason why, the physical and political war in Ukraine is also compounding issues for some specific countries, as we know if prices of commodities are high which they are, people will spend more money to buy the goods they need and pay for the services they want. Standard of living on the other hand is like a general term to quantify the economic well-being of people in any country, meaning if the prices of goods and services are high, people would be able to afford very little goods and services and that will make the standard of living to drop generally, and that also goes vice versa.

So i would like to know what the standard of living is like in your country now compared to five years ago. Was there any sharp difference in the standard of living pre pandemic and now. If there is a great fall in the standard of living in your country, have there been any move by the government and employers of labor to alleviate the sufferings of people. People who live in Ukraine, if you don't mind, i think a lot of people would want to know what it is like there too since the war began.

[Dunamisx]

The prices of goods and services are increasing everywhere in the world, inflation being the major reason why

Because many countries have chose to stick on one way direction without thinking otherwise for an alternative, i still can't figure out what bitcoin and cryptocurrency has done to them that would have made it deserve such approach they all have towards it, but despite all, it's moving fine and good.

as we know if prices of commodities are high which they are, people will spend more money to buy the goods they need and pay for the services they want.

Of course this is just a little to what extent an inflation could go using fiat currency, cryptocurrency does not obey such principle, bitcoin has in many ways overcome the power of inflation in the economy despite its volatility moves.

So i would like to know what the standard of living is like in your country now compared to five years ago.

In the case of my country there has not been any difference but rather the value of the currency keep falling as against USD and the economy is not progressing in any way, inflation is everywhere and we need a currency like bitcoin to help out in situations like this, although many of the citizens here have been making use of bitcoin in various aspects of economical application and some difference has been made with the engagement of bitcoin amidst government regulations and inability to adopt bitcoin.

[Fortify]

The prices of goods and services are increasing everywhere in the world, inflation being the major reason why, the physical and political war in Ukraine is also compounding issues for some specific countries, as we know if prices of commodities are high which they are, people will spend more money to buy the goods they need and pay for the services they want. Standard of living on the other hand is like a general term to quantify the economic well-being of people in any country, meaning if the prices of goods and services are high, people would be able to afford very little goods and services and that will make the standard of living to drop generally, and that also goes vice versa.

So i would like to know what the standard of living is like in your country now compared to five years ago. Was there any sharp difference in the standard of living pre pandemic and now. If there is a great fall in the standard of living in your country, have there been any move by the government and employers of labor to alleviate the sufferings of people. People who live in Ukraine, if you don't mind, i think a lot of people would want to know what it is like there too since the war began.

It's pretty crazy but the price increases only really started happening about 3-6 months ago within my country. Before that point everything was pretty stable, although obviously there were large increases in particular sectors like if you wanted to buy a new graphics card. I guess certain countries have it luckier than others and if you're living in a country that is slightly underdeveloped or poorer generally then any sort of price rise is going to hit you even harder. I now see prices moving up every few weeks even when going to buy things like food, which stayed pretty consistent in price for years before that, so it feels like we might only just be seeing the start of these price rises.

[Cnut237]

i would like to know what the standard of living is like in your country now compared to five years ago. Was there any sharp difference in the standard of living pre pandemic and now.

In my country, over the last five years the rich have got richer and the poor have got poorer... because we have a right-wing party in power, and this is their raison d'être.
I would suspect that in a lot of countries there has been a general decline in standard of living, but that the poor are hit disproportionately hard, whilst the ultra-rich have actually benefitted.

The biggest impact on standard of living at the moment is ever-increasing energy prices; help from the government for ordinary people has been effectively zero. The government refuses to tax their friends the energy giants, who are reaping record profits.

[mk4]

Currently in the Philippines; probably a ballpark of 20-30% increase in 5 years? It's been a while since I've roamed the "ghetto" ish areas so I really can't make a good comparison. While food and other needs are up, what I've noticed is that rent went up far higher for some reason. Wages are higher too which is good, but working provincial doesn't really cover the daily needs if you have a family.

[Moneyprism]

the standard of living in my country compared to 5 years ago is clearly very different ... this year even though there is a pandemic and war in ukraine, the economy in our country is still growing.. this is thanks to us because we chose the right leader, which some decisions are very helpful, especially those of the lower class ,, compared to 5 years ago where most people couldn't buy a house or a vehicle, but now people can easily buy a house or a vehicle or electronic goods.. the wages of workers are also increasing.. the point is different compared to 5 years ago

[Z-tight]

Because many countries have chose to stick on one way direction without thinking otherwise for an alternative, i still can't figure out what bitcoin and cryptocurrency has done to them that would have made it deserve such approach they all have towards it, but despite all, it's moving fine and good.

It is what it is with inflation all around the world, Bitcoin would not do anything to help with soaring prices of goods and services or with inflation generally, no matter the approach countries take concerning it.

I guess certain countries have it luckier than others and if you're living in a country that is slightly underdeveloped or poorer generally then any sort of price rise is going to hit you even harder.

I second that, i don't know how correct i am but i think people in first world countries are not in as much trouble as people living in underdeveloped nations, maybe someone from that part of the world can share their experience.

The biggest impact on standard of living at the moment is ever-increasing energy prices;

Would that be because of the war between Ukraine and Russia? With Russia imposing their own sanctions as regards their supply of natural gas to other parts of Europe.

Wages are higher too which is good, but working provincial doesn't really cover the daily needs if you have a family.

Did wages go up because of inflation or was it just a normal increase.

[Cnut237]

The biggest impact on standard of living at the moment is ever-increasing energy prices;

Would that be because of the war between Ukraine and Russia? With Russia imposing their own sanctions as regards their supply of natural gas to other parts of Europe.

That's a part of it, certainly, but a long way from the whole story. People in many other European countries are not facing the same increases. Part of it is a historic lack of investment in just helping people... houses are built cheaply here and generally to the bare minimum legal standard, insulation is poor and so people use more power to heat their homes. Government grants for home insulation have been scaled back under this government, as has pretty much everything else. There's also no long-term planning and no reserves; short-termism is endemic. But the single biggest cause underlying it all is their pathological adherence to the mantra of "let the market decide" ... no matter what the situation. Anything to further enrich the already rich and reinforce the status quo of rulers and ruled.

[Gozie51]

Things have really been obnoxiously different in most places over the 5 years in view with economy cascading down the durgeon of poverty level. This is so annoying because cost of living have gone high and standard of living dropping drastically. On a quiet moment I have thought and realised that energy, Oil and gas supply are really major in the enjoyment of life but these commodities have gone high across the globe not only in less developed countries. Over reliance on Oil and its byproducts are really taking the world through high rate of inflation and inflation itself is the reason standard of living is falling. The situation is still better in countries that exporting nations because they can generate foreign exchange. In Africa, the situation is not funny. The standard of living is ridiculously low as bad leaders are selfish , chasing after individual goal. However, the world need to diversify the economy from high dependency on oil to fuel vehicles. Transportation of goods are major reason for fall in standard of living.

[maydna]

The standard of living in my country now compared to five years ago is very different. Prices of goods and services have not increased too much because people can still find income from many sources. But after Corona hit everywhere, people's incomes decreased drastically and there were even some people who couldn't work as usual and many were affected by employee reductions. That is obviously a big drop in everyone's standard of living but thankfully, Corona has started to decrease a lot and we have started to be allowed to leave the house and work as usual even though the situation is not the same as before the Corona attack.

I don't know what happened in Ukraine and it is possible that the people there are also experiencing greater hardship than our lives because their country has been affected by the war. Hopefully everything will recover soon and even though it will be much different from before, at least we can start a new life and hope that it will be much better than before.

[mk4]

Wages are higher too which is good, but working provincial doesn't really cover the daily needs if you have a family.

Did wages go up because of inflation or was it just a normal increase.

I really don't follow local stuff religiously because I'm far more invested in crypto and US stock markets, but as far as I know while it's a mixture of both, it's mostly probably due to government intervention.

[fiulpro]

In a healthy economy there would be inflation otherwise every year which would be deemed not only essential but at the same time an integral part of growth, therefore no matter what the circumstances are the standard of living would ofc change especially in the last 5 years, that's drastic, we have not just seen pandemic but we have seen the volatility of prices in the last 3 years and then due to the war a lot of imported goods like the oil are now having a bit of a shortage and thus making things a bit too expensive for the countries who do not actually produce them as well. Therefore in the countries where the government actually did cut forth the exports and at the same time increased the production, they have been able to maintain a somehow healthy balance but in most it's a chaos.

[bittraffic]

Life in Ukraine must have been difficult since the war. If they are in the affected part where their electricity was cut off, then that's worse. In the western part I think is still not good. In the news, they were saying they have limited supply of food (wheat). Its more than fair to seen their government is reaching out to ask funds from everywhere.

In general, all countries are affected by the inflation. A family with a father that is not working in a good position in a company, would struggle to give a comfortable life to their kids but its security and food is the most important of all in crisis time. No night out, no vacation to beaches after all there is Covid still. During Covid our government is giving assistance to less fortunate.

[Captain Corporate]

Inflation could be the norm, but it doesn't have to be this high. It could be just %2 each year and that would be enough. Anything above that would be a terrible situation the higher it goes. For example, there are situations where some nations have like as high as %100, and that is as terrible as it could be and those nations are in terrible situations. If the inflation keeps going up like that for a few years, then there is no way to recover from that ever and that nation's citizens will end up being poor for many years. The best thing I could see would be very low inflation if it is a must, just make it low and you will be doing fine, but keeping it fine has not been an option for many years now and it's not going to be available anytime soon either.

[stompix]

Standard of living on the other hand is like a general term to quantify the economic well-being of people in any country, meaning if the prices of goods and services are high, people would be able to afford very little goods and services and that will make the standard of living to drop generally, and that also goes vice versa.

Standard of living has such a wide area of definitions it's almost impossible to really quantify it and compare it states by state, even the far easier and easier to track purchasing power indicator is also completely flawed in some areas. Let's take for example Norway, it is close to the top when it comes to this but it still has some of the highest prices for almost everything in Europe, including 2.4 euros per liter of petrol, yet individual income offsets this balance only slightly, the ones that make it rise to the top are some that are completely distinctive to prices, like education, freedom, political stability, environment, infrastructure.

So just looking at inflation and prices is no way to picture the quality of life or standard of living for a country.

In my country, over the last five years the rich have got richer and the poor have got poorer... because we have a right-wing party in power, and this is their raison d'être.

Oh, wait for the next election, you might elect a far-left that will make everyone poor so you won't have to worry about the wealth of others anymore.

[Husires]

If you have a good government that improves business management, its prices are not supposed to rise, and therefore all the government's interventions will be cosmetic and will increase the problem.
But if inflation levels increase in your country, then you are in the middle of the problem, which needs individual solutions more than collective solutions, which may be represented in:

• Buying assets: Whatever their nature, investing in assets is better than keeping cash.
• Buying shares: If you understand it and love to take risks, buy shares.
• Buying gold: It is one of the safe havens.

[Z-tight]

But the single biggest cause underlying it all is their pathological adherence to the mantra of "let the market decide" ... no matter what the situation. Anything to further enrich the already rich and reinforce the status quo of rulers and ruled.

Going by your complaints, i can guess that your country is a capitalist one. A Laissez-faire economy would always put the poor in a difficult situation, the rich will get richer and the poor would get poorer, it is a system that favors inequality.

Transportation of goods are major reason for fall in standard of living.

I don't think transportation has anything to do with it, when there is a rise in energy price it affects nearly every sector, it is natural gases, electricity, etc that companies and industries use in the process of their production, so i think since they pay higher to get it, customers will have to pay higher to purchase goods being produced. Government policies that caused a reduction in the value of money is also another reason.

However, the world need to diversify the economy from high dependency on oil to fuel vehicles.

Countries have their own individual natural resources which they develop for local consumption and for exportation to other countries that do not have, the same process is also vice versa. Some resources are obviously more imporatant than the others and cannot be done without, meaning you must import them from countries that have it. I do not know how diversification can come in.

So just looking at inflation and prices is no way to picture the quality of life or standard of living for a country.

So other than these, what else can be used to get a broader picture of the standard of living for a particular country.

[amishmanish]

Resource crunch is a major problem the world is facing. We have become and more materialistic, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Previous self sufficient rural economies have been replaced by international supply chain dependent consumer good suppliers. But there is cost to everything. The cost is destruction of natural resources leading to their scarcity. Our generation is now seeing the aftereffects of extreme consumerism. We need to accept  it. We need to embrace minimalism to make sustainable development and make world more livable

[gantez]

Resource crunch is a major problem the world is facing. We have become and more materialistic, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Previous self sufficient rural economies have been replaced by international supply chain dependent consumer good suppliers. But there is cost to everything. The cost is destruction of natural resources leading to their scarcity. Our generation is now seeing the aftereffects of extreme consumerism. We need to accept  it. We need to embrace minimalism to make sustainable development and make world more livable

Talking on sustainable development, I think the agricultural aspect of life is now suffering which is coming to humanity in the way hard times is taking over the day. Maybe the world is feeling the effect of mechanised system and industrial revolution because back in time inflation was hardly in daily discussion.

[stompix]

So just looking at inflation and prices is no way to picture the quality of life or standard of living for a country.

So other than these, what else can be used to get a broader picture of the standard of living for a particular country.

Well, short answer, everything, the long one is on the wiki:

Standard of living might be evaluated using a number of characteristics including as the quality and availability of employment, class disparity, poverty rate, quality and housing affordability, hours of work required to purchase necessities, gross domestic product, inflation rate, amount of leisure time, access to and quality of healthcare, quality and availability of education, literacy rates, life expectancy, occurrence of diseases, cost of goods and services, infrastructure, access to, quality and affordability of public transportation, national economic growth, economic and political stability, freedom, environmental quality, climate and safety.

This is the problem with it, it comes with funny situations, for example, the US gets penalized for public transportation, but for most of them, it's pretty comfortable and affordable to drive in a car, so a country might score more points despite putting their citizens through 3 commutes for 1 hour rather than 20 minings of driving. Political stability, lol, Turkmenistan has the son of the former president in charge and they have ruled since 2006, while the Netherlands has been going 9 months with no government.
Romania has 96% housing ownership, Switzerland one of the lowest in the world with 35%.
Healthcare is cheaper in Russia than in the US, yet the average male has a life expectancy shorter by 10 years.

And coming back to inflation and prices:
Turkey has a 70% inflation rate, Bangladesh and Honduras 5%, which one do you think is better to live in?
Botswana has double the purchasing power per capita of Vietnam and the same as China, do you think it's really accurate?
If somebody earns 10k and spends basic necessities 4k, he can afford a 100% increase, if somebody spends for his food and rent 1000 but that makes 90% of his income, a 20% increase will make him unable to live on.

Rather than asking about the standard of living, you should simply ask if the price rise has made some people forfeit their plans of buying something, far easier to answer, and far easier to quantify.