Abstract
Concern over the ‘quality of life’ in the United States seems to have increased proportionally with technological advancement and growth in material wealth. Growing public interest in social, economic, political and environmental conditions has led to the search for indicators which adequately reflect the overall ‘health’ of the nation and its citizens' well-being. This paper developed a systematic methodology for assessing social, economic, political, and environmental indicators to reflect the quality of life in the U.S. Nine indicators, including Individual Status, Individual Equality, Living Conditions, Agriculture, Technology, Economic Status, Education, Health and Welfare and State and Local Governments were compiled from more than 100 variables for 50 states and the District of Columbia. Based primarily on 1970 data, QOL indexes were generalized and the states were rated. Comparisons among similar studies were made and analyses among indicators were also performed.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Bauer R. A. (ed.), Social Indicators, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1969.
BerendtJohn (ed.), Lifestyle, Lifestyle, Publishing, Inc., New York, 1972.
CampbellA. and ConverseP. E., The Human Meaning of Social Change, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1972.
CohenW. J. (ed.), Toward a Social Report, U.S. Dept. of HEW, Washington, D.C., 1969.
ColeRosanne, Errors in Provisional Estimates of Gross National Product, National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, 1969.
GrossB. M., Social Intelligence for America's Future, Allyn and Bacon, New Jersey, 1969.
HornbackK. E. and ShawR. W.Jr., ‘Toward a Quantitative Measure of the Quality of Life’, Memo, Homer Hoyt Institute, Washington, D.C., 1972.
KeepingE. S., Introduction to Statistical Inference, D. Van Nostrand Co., Toronto, 1962.
MitchellA. T. J., Logothetli and KantonR. E., An Approach to Measuring Quality of Life, Stanford Research Institute, California, 1971.
The President's Commission on National Goals, Goals for Americans, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1960.
RugglesNancy and RugglesRichard, The Design of Economic Accounts, National Bureau of Economic Research, New York, 1970.
SheldonE. and MooreW. E., Indicators of Social Change, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1968.
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 1971, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1971.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, The ‘Quality of Life’ Concept: An Anthology of Selected Readings, Environmental Studies Division, Washington, D.C., 1972a.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ‘Summary Report on Quality of Life Indicators’, Memo, Environmental Studies Division, Washington, D.C., 1972b.
Wagar, J. A., ‘Growth Versus the Quality of Life’, Science 168 (1970).
WilsonJohn O., The Quality of Life in America, Midwest Research Institute, Kansas City, 1967.
WilsonJohn O., Quality of Life in the U.S., Midwest Research Institute, Kansas City, 1970.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Liu, BC. Quality of life indicators: A preliminary investigation. Soc Indic Res 1, 187–208 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302887
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00302887