The Indexation of Urban and Rural Residents' Quality of Life

The purpose of this study was to develop an index of quality of life, which could be used to review the changes in an index of rural residents compared to that of urban residents. For this purpose, the study carried out related literature reviews on the quality of life and indexation methods, and surveyed 40 experts for the selection and validation of specific items and for the decision of the weighting values. In addition, the study surveyed 2,000 rural and urban residents for the validation of the index and comparing the index of rural resi- dents with that of urban residents. As a result, an index of quality of life was developed. The index consisted of the following 19 indicators including income, consumption, job, health, medical services, safety, basic living, housing, communication facilities, public transportation, amenities, public education, lifelong education, school educational opportunity, welfare system, social welfare service, neighborhood, family life, and leisure. The each indicator was measured by subjective sati- sfaction questionnaires. The 19 indicators were endowed with weighted valves; for instance, 0.136 for income, 0.121 for consumption, 0.068 for health, and so forth. The index of quality of life of total residents was 49.26, while the index of rural residents was 47.58, a lower figure than the comparable figure of 53.17 for urban residents