Measurement of the Quality of Life in the Regions of Latvia
20th International Scientific Conference "Economic Science for Rural Development 2019": Proceedings 2019
Ilze Judrupa, Amanda Pipare

Increasing the quality of life is one of the main long-term development goals mentioned in Latvian planning documents. In order to assess whether the goals are achieved, it is necessary to find the optimal solution for quality of life evaluation. The aim of the article is to find the most suitable method for assessing and comparing quality of life in the regions of Latvia. The most popular and easy-to-use method for quality of life evaluation is calculation of the complex index, but the indicators could be normalized according to different methodology. In this paper 7 methods of calculation of indexes were compared and the advantages and disadvantages of each method were determined, as well as the optimal method for calculating the quality of life index at the regional level was chosen. To evaluate quality of life, factors such as financial situation, health, economic activity, education, dwelling, security and environment were used and 10 descriptive indicators were selected. In the assessment of the quality of life in the regions of Latvia, it was concluded that Pieriga and Riga regions have the highest quality of life, but the lowest quality of life is in Latgale region. The most appropriate method for assessing the quality of life is to calculate the Quality of Life (QoL) Index as a percentage of the average, or by using the min-max normalization formula and obtaining index values in the range from 0 to 1.


Keywords
quality of life, index, complex measurement system, normalization
DOI
10.22616/ESRD.2019.070
Hyperlink
https://llufb.llu.lv/conference/economic_science_rural/2019/Latvia_ESRD_51_2019-152-159.pdf

Judrupa, I., Pipare, A. Measurement of the Quality of Life in the Regions of Latvia. In: 20th International Scientific Conference "Economic Science for Rural Development 2019": Proceedings, Latvia, Jelgava, 8-10 May, 2019. Jelgava: Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, 2019, pp.152-159. ISSN 1691-3078. e-ISSN 2255-9930. Available from: doi:10.22616/ESRD.2019.070

Publication language
English (en)
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