The main difference between lifestyle and standard of living is that lifestyle is the way in which a person lives while the standard of living is the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community.
Lifestyle and standard of living are not the same; they are two different concepts. Lifestyle involves factors like interests, wants, needs, motives, and feelings while the standard of living involves income, economic opportunity, GDP (gross domestic product), and life expectancy.
Key Areas Covered
1. What is Lifestyle
– Definition, Features
2. What is Standard of Living
– Definition, Features
3. Difference Between Lifestyle and Standard of Living
– Comparison of Key Differences
Key Terms
Lifestyle, Standard of Living
What is a Lifestyle
Lifestyle is the way in which a person lives. In other words, it’s a way of living. The work we do, how we behave, how we spend our leisure, and other social patterns express our lifestyle. Lifestyle also involves our wants, needs, motives, and feelings. Therefore, lifestyle has a strong relationship to our sense of happiness and peace. Lifestyle is also greatly affected by culture. It’s a person’s lifestyle that allows him to be comfortable with his surrounding and face the challenges in his life.
Figure 1: Vegan Lifestyle
People in different cultures and societies can have different lifestyles. Even within the same society, there are differences in lifestyles based on various factors like religion, income, and social class; for example, a vegan lifestyle, a minimalist lifestyle, green lifestyle, Christian lifestyle, and a college lifestyle, etc.
What is a Standard of Living
Standard of living refers to the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community. It includes factors like income, economic opportunity, GDP (gross domestic product), and life expectancy. Basically, it measures the material aspects of society. Furthermore, we can use the standard of living to compare two different geographical areas or distinct points in time. For instance, we can compare the standard of living in Australia and India; similarly, we can measure the standard of living in contemporary France, comparing it to the standard of living a century ago.
Figure 2: Population Living on Less than $1.25 (ppp) per Day (Lower the Income, Lower the Standard of Living)
If we look at the standard of living all over the world, we can observe that standards of living in developed countries like the UK and US are higher than that of developing countries. Furthermore, economists often use GDP per capita to measure the standard of living. This is a country’s gross domestic product divided by its population. The United Nations’ Human Development Index (HDI) is another measure of standard of living. This measure is based on various factors like education, life expectancy at birth, and income per capita.
Difference Between Lifestyle and Standard of Living
Definition
Lifestyle is the way in which a person lives while the standard of living is the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community.
Factors
Lifestyle involves factors like interests, wants, needs, motives, and feelings while the standard of living involves income, economic opportunity, GDP (gross domestic product), and life expectancy.
Use
We usually use the word lifestyle to describe the way of living of an individual, but we use the standard of living to compare life in different geographic areas or distinct points in time.
Conclusion
The main difference between lifestyle and standard of living is that lifestyle is the way in which a person lives while the standard of living is the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a person or community. Moreover, lifestyle involves factors like interests, wants, needs, motives, and feelings while the standard of living involves income, economic opportunity, GDP (gross domestic product), and life expectancy.
Image Courtesy:
1. “2756467” (CC0) via Pixabay
2. “Percentage population living on less than 1 dollar day 2007-2008” By Sbw01f (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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