Quality of Life in the Polish Provinces – Comparative Analysis of Selected Regions

Abstract

There is no clear-cut definition and measure of prosperity and economic well-being. It depends on individual attitude and vigour as well as political, economic and cultural conditions. Lately, measures of quality of life are used for the estimation of socio–economic well-being of territorial units smaller than the state, because of increasing differentiation between populations of regions and cities of the same state. The paper looks at the issue of regional differentiation of socio–economic development. There was made an assessment on quality of life using special constructed parameters and indicators. The research covers Polish regions. A special attention is paid to 5 selected Polish provinces. The quality of life, prosperity and well-being depend not only on economic factors. Except of economic indexes (GNP, GDP), for estimating of living standards, very important are human development indicators, political and cultural conditions. Significant impact on the level of social development is the quality of human capital. The socio–political environment has limited influence on the social condition of man and his sense of satisfaction. It was found that there is a slight impact of economic situation on the perceived quality of life. Quality of life survey should be used to assess the effectiveness of socio – economic policy.