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Measuring Living Standards Using Existing National Data Sets*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2009

Sandra Hutton
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Abstract

The study reported on in this paper used existing data to create a broad measure of living standards as advocated by Townsend (1979) in developing his concept of relative deprivation. Linked data from the General Household Survey and the Family Expenditure Survey was used to compare the living standards of households at different income levels. A particular focus of the study was the living standards of households on supplementary benefit (as it was at the time of the surveys). Analyses showed that in general they score less well on individual indicators of living standards than other households of the same type on low incomes. A summary index was developed which indicated the similarity of standards of living for households on supplementary benefit (SB) irrespective of household type. The specific indices constructed for each of the family types investigated suggested that families on SB with children have a relatively lower standard of living than other families with children whereas elderly households on supplementary benefit are not so deprived in comparison with other elderly households.

Type
Research Note
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , April 1991 , pp. 237 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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