Quality of life of rural population: the aspects of income and living conditions

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Gyvenimo kokybė; Gyvenimo sąlygos; Kaimo vietovės; Pajamos; Vertinimas; Evaluation; Income; Living conditions; Quality of life; Rural areas.

ENThe article analyzes the quality of life among rural population of Lithuania. It highlights the aspects of their disposable income and living conditions. The comparative analysis used the data published on the website of the Lithuanian Department of Statistics. The indicators were compared with respect of the attributes of the place of residence and the administrative territory. The Mann-Whitney test was used in order to ascertain whether the indicators of income and living conditions in rural and urban areas are statis-tically significantly different. The Wilcoxon test compared the indicators of the quality of life in rural areas in different years. The research revealed that a comparison of the income indicator by the attribute of the place of residence shows no statistically significant difference among the disposable income of rural and urban population. However, following a comparison of the income indicator by the attribute of the administrative territory it can be claimed that people who live in the counties adjacent to major cities enjoy higher incomes. The comparison by both attributes shows that rural population face more problems related to poor housing, whereas urban residents confront the issues of heating, pollution, noise, and crime. The comparison of data on the quality of life of rural population in 2008 and 2010 revealed that the number of very poorly performing households has increased, they can hardly afford vacations or covering their incidental expenditure. On the other hand, the state of housing repair has improved. [From the publication]