Quality life index analysis, evaluation and investigation

Straipsnyje nagrinėjama gyvenimo kokybės matavimo problema. Tinkamai įvertinti socialinę - ekonominę gerovę savarankiškų statistinių rodiklių aritmetiniu vidurkiu yra sunku, autoriai pristato naują gyvenimo kokybės indeksą, kaip integruotą rodiklį, apibendrina skirtingus požiūrius, pateikia Lietuvoje atlikto tyrimo rezultatus.Recently, the concept of the quality of life as established in Western Culture and its evaluation are widely discussed by specialists of various fields of science. The prevailing understanding of the quality of life in the narrow sense (Lithuanians regard the high quality of life as high income of the household and good health), the quality of life analysis and evaluation often carried out superficially encouraged the authors of article to deeper analyze the problem of the evaluation of the quality of life, to present the integrated index of the quality of life (QLI) as well as carry out the research of the evaluation of the quality of life in Lithuania. The analysis of the concept of the quality of life showed that there does not exist an unanimous definition of the quality of life: some authors provide comprehensive definitions, others - more general, still others - rather short ones. At present, the quality of life in the wide sense is understood as a political and economic ideal that, by the created means, assures the society not only the satisfaction of primary needs, but also the desired wellbeing: the economic wealth, the social security, the sufficient health care, the satisfactory maintenance of the natural environment. Along with the concept of the quality of life, its evaluation methodology has also changed. Many indices for the analysis of the quality of life have been proposed, however, the results has shown that only the integrated complex index, and not many separate indices, may properly evaluate the quality of life. Following the new — multiple concept of the quality of life, having evaluated the criticism and mistakes of previous attempts to measure the quality of life, the Economist Intelligence Unit proposed a new, global, complex index to analyze the quality of life (Quality of life index) that consists of 9 dimensions: the standard of life, health, political stability, family, social life, climate, work safety, political freedom and the gender equality. The Economist Intelligence Unit, having applied the QLI computation method to calculate the index of the quality of life of world countries in 2005, graded countries according to the obtained meanings of constituents of the index (from 1 to 10). Ireland, having surpassed such countries as Switzerland, Norway and Luxembourg, was rated No 1 according to the quality of life, leaving behind the USA, Japan, the Great Britain, etc. The citizens of former social countries that took the last places as regards the quality of life - Ukraine, Russia and Belarus - are mostly unsatisfied with the life. The Lithuanian case, which was analyzed with the help of the constituents of the quality of life index, showed that Lithuania, having surpassed the other two Baltic States - Latvia and Estonia, took the 63rd place out of 111 countries under the research. This position of Lithuania was determined due to rather low meanings of the indices of QLI, except for the unemployment rate according to which the country is amongst the topmost in the EU, and the increasing gender equality in Lithuania. The opinion survey carried out in Lithuania for the first time is presented in the article, and its aim is to generalize the evaluation of the quality of life of the citizens according to the quality of life index dimensions. The method of the interview of citizens was used in order to achieve the aim of the research. The contingent of the interviewed citizens consisted of randomly selected citizens of Lithuania that were grouped according to the age and sex. 5 age groups of respondents were distinguished during the research. The interviewed citizens distributed almost equally according to the sex: 90 women and 110 men were interviewed, 20 out of whom refused to take part in the survey. The survey was carried out with the help of the SPSS programme. The results of the performed survey confirmed that the indices of the quality of life are rapidly improving not only by the statistical indices of the country, but also by the evaluation of the Lithuanian citizens. The increased gender equality, the political freedom, the intensive social life - all that is very important evaluating the quality of life. The Lithuanian citizens have a lot more possibilities to selfexpression, more rights to the full-fledged life. The article analyses the concept of the complex quality of life and its development, presents a new attitude towards the quality of life and its evaluation underlining the global, integrated quality of life index, which should broaden the understanding of the Lithuanian citizens evaluating the quality of life. The direct identification of the quality of life with the financial wellbeing and seek for amenities should change bringing up such values as family, religion, sustainable development, political freedom and safety