Determinants of quality of life in the provinces of Poland

Abstract

The quality of life is often perceived as an extent of fulfiling a variety of needs by people. The quality of life has always been in the centre of public interest. The reasons are that life quality concerns all people, and is generally equated with happiness, contentment and satisfaction with life. At the same time, this concept is determined by many conditions, both personal and social, including, among others, health, living conditions, natural environment, professional life and civic participation, public safety, cultural and recreational activities, education, and social relations. Additionally, the category is difficult to measure as both subjective and objective aspects of measurement are involved. The aim of the paper is to assess the quality of life of inhabitants of Poland’s provinces according to its key areas. Measurements covered the year of 2016 and included an objective assessment of the quality of life in the provinces. However, the subjective aspect was also accounted for. Hellwig’s taxonomic method was used for the assessment of life quality. The method made it possible to identify differences between the provinces in this respect. The quality of life in Polish regions in the light of the research is significantly diversified. The division of provinces into Eastern Poland with a lower quality of life and the Polish West with a higher quality of life is visible. The analysis performed allowed to distinguish the regions with the highest, high, low and very low level of the quality of life.