COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF APPROACHES TO MEASURING THE WELL-BEING OF THE POPULATION

Abstract

Relevance. The topic of the well-being of the population is quite relevant and the research conducted in this direction touches upon the problem of assessing and measuring this social phenomenon. It should be noted that researchers often consider the terms «life satisfaction», «well-being», «happiness», «quality of life» interchangeable and present different interpretations of these definitions. To date, the issue of assessing and measuring the well-being of the population is being dealt with not only by representatives of various fields of scientific knowledge, but also by heads of state structures in relation to the need to make effective management decisions. The purpose of the research is to determine the common and distinctive features of Russian and foreign approaches to measuring the well-being of the population. The methods of the research are comparative analysis, synthesis of information, analysis and generalization of data. Results. Existing approaches to the study of well-being can be divided into two main areas: objective – statistical data are used, and the leading role belongs to social structures; subjective – the leading role is assigned to the actor, and the main research methods are questionnaires, sociological and psychological experiments. In addition, integral approaches should be singled out, which combine statistical data and the results of assessing individuals in their own lives. It is noted that, first of all, in these approaches, attention is paid to social and economic indicators, while indicators of the political sphere of public life are focused only in integral approaches. Also, the existing approaches to the study of well-being do not take into account the factors that can affect the quality of life of the population, equating the results without taking into account geographical, cultural and religious characteristics. The conclusion of the work consists in the necessity of developping an approach to the study of the well-being of the population, which would take into account the advantages and disadvantages of existing methods, and also correspond to modern conditions.

Keywords

• digital sociology
• quality of life
• well-being
• standard of living
• measurement of well-being