Exploring Australia's Standard Of Living

Standard of living refers to the level of material welfare of a community, class or person. While some are more effective than others it can be measured using gross domestic product, gross national product, the happy planet index, the better life index and the human development index. In Australia we have a relatively high standard of living, most people have access to necessities such as food, water and shelter as well as electricity, healthcare and an education. In 1995 World Bank named Australia as one of the richest economies in the world, this still remains true today. However, standard of living varies between people and places, a good example of this is the Aboriginal communities whose marginalization has led to huge difference between

HDI is a tool used to measure the wellbeing of a country by taking into account a variety of factors. The countries are then ranked into four tiers of human development; low, medium, high and very high. The nations are marked on three main categories; health, measured by life expectancy, education, measured by years of schooling and living standards, measured by GNP per capita. Industrial, developed countries usually rank very high in the HDI, with Norway, Australia, Canada and the Netherlands topping the list. In contrast, Niger, Chad and Sierra Leone rank very poorly. In 2013, Australia ranked second after Norway with a HDI of 0.933, a life expectancy of 82.5 years, 12.8 years of schooling and a gross national income of but $41000, all of these are well above average. There are many advantages to using HDI instead or along GDP, the main one being that it accounts for more than monetary figures. Another advantage is that the 3 categories are equally weighted which means that they are all considered equally important. It encourages countries to focus on the broader picture and improve a variety of elements which can in turn improve living standards, it also promotes the idea that money doesn’t equal happiness or wellbeing. Moreover, the Human Development Index can be separated into sections to highlight differences in development

It is defined as an attempt to bring together internationally comparable measures of wellbeing. It is divided into various categories such as education, housing, income, environment and health among others. Australia ranks quite high in this index, being above average in most categories, especially community, life expectancy and income. When asked, 92% of people said they believed they had someone for support if things were to fall apart, indicating a strong sense of community. Australia’s life expectancy of 82 is two years more than the average 80 and the scaled income of around $31,000 USD is more than the OECD average of $25,900. However, Australia ranks below average in work/life balance, indicating overworked people which could mean deteriorating wellbeing. There are many advantages to using this index, the main ones being that it includes a wide range of categories which allow us to separate them and look into and compare certain factors. Having so many different categories make it very useful when looking at standard of living as many aspects of life can be considered. It also encourages countries to think about people’s daily lives and not just the economy. Most of the disadvantages of this index have to do with accuracy. For example, some things, like what you get out of education, are hard to measure. Other figures may be inaccurate, such as the number of assaults