Meaning & use
standard of living
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Meanings
nounsingular
The level of money, comfort and goods that a person, family or country can enjoy.
Grammar: Usually singular with 'the' or a possessive: the standard of living in Norway is high.
Patterns
- raise the standard of living
- a high standard of living
Wages grew, and the standard of living in the region slowly improved.
Immigrants often move to find a higher standard of living for their children.
The standard of living here fell sharply after the factory closed.
nouncountable or uncountabletechnical
In economics, a measure of how well-off people are, judged by things such as income, housing, health and access to services.
Grammar: Plural 'standards of living' compares places or groups: standards of living differ across the world.
Patterns
- standards of living in a country
- compare standards of living
Economists compare standards of living using income and life expectancy.
Standards of living in rural areas lagged behind those in the cities.
The report links a rising standard of living to better schools and clinics.
Word forms
| plural | standards of living |
|---|
Common combinations
- a high standard of living
- Switzerland is known for its high standard of living.
- improve the standard of living
- New roads helped improve the standard of living in the villages.
- a rising standard of living
- A rising standard of living changed how families spent their money.
- lower the standard of living
- Inflation can lower the standard of living for pensioners.
- standard of living index
- The ministry published a standard of living index for each province.
Synonyms and how they differ
- quality of life
- It includes happiness, health and freedom, but 'standard of living' focuses on wealth and material comfort.
- living standards
- It means almost the same and is more common in news headlines.
- prosperity
- It describes general wealth and success, not a measurable level of daily comfort.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: standard of living or cost of living? standard of living or quality of life?
standard of living vs cost of living
Cost of living means how much it costs to buy necessities, while standard of living means the level of comfort people actually have.
standard of living vs quality of life
Quality of life covers wellbeing and happiness as well as money.
Practice
Rising wages and cheaper housing have improved the ___ in the town.
Choose one answer.
'Standard of living' means the level of comfort and wealth; 'cost of living' would mean prices, which would not improve with cheaper housing in this sense, and the others are not set phrases.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “standard of living”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.