QUALITY OF LIFE: ESSENCE AND MEASUREMENTS

Quality of life remains an important measure of socio-­economic development and the effectiveness of public policy in this area. At the same time, there is still no clear answer to the question of measuring quality of life. Both academic science and the professional expert community that develop various quality of life ratings offer significantly different interpretations. And this, of course, harms the effective use of quality of life as a goal and result of state activities. The purpose of the article is to propose and test for systematization of existing approaches in assessing the quality of life the matrix of “four qualities of life” by R. Veenhoven, which has not previously been considered in Russian economic science. The article analyzes approaches to defining and measuring the quality of life, considers and analyzes R. Veenhoven’s approach itself, and also demonstrates the possibilities of its application to the systematization of quality of life measures proposed by Russian researchers. The results presented in the article will be useful for bringing together existing approaches to assessing quality of life and developing a consensus understanding of the essence and measures of quality of life, for subsequent application in public administration practice.