Quality of Life of Rural and Urban Population in Poland: Evaluation and Comparison
Purpose: The purpose of this article is to compare the subjective quality of life of the inhabitants of rural and urban areas. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is based on a set of data from the Social Diagnosis 2015. Conditions and quality of life of the Poles project, which is comprehensive and representative in nature, were used. The study was conducted on the example of Poland in the global dimension as a general satisfaction with life and in terms of area concerning various areas of life. The work assessed the quality of life, including the division into rural and urban residents. A significance test for many structure indices was used to achieve the goal. Findings: The results show that most often both the inhabitants of the rural and the urban have assessed their life as quite good or successful and quite happy. It was also found that the percentage of people living in the rural and urban assessing the quality of own life rather negatively is not significantly different. However, the percentage of inhabitants of rural and urban areas declaring satisfaction with global and local quality of life is not the same, i.e., the quality of life assessment in this case depends on the place of residence. Practical Implications: The paper highlights the importance of subjective assessment of the quality of life of rural and urban residents to fully demonstrate how people live and how they assess their lives. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the literature by showing that subjective assessment of the quality of life globally and in individual areas of life varies significantly between rural and urban residents.