QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE SYSTEM OF SOCIAL SECURITY OF UKRAINE: INDICATORS, LEVEL, THREATS

Abstract

The authors consider the social security as a state of social sphere, which ensures high quality of life of the population (material level and social components), protection of the basic vital demographic-recovery processes, possibility of obtaining the high-quality education and the absence of threats to health and life of a person. The main indicator of quality of life – poverty level according to various methods of determination – is studied in detail. Imperfection of existing approaches to reflect the real state of poverty in Ukraine is substantiated. The definition of poverty level is proposed as a share of the population whose equivalent total costs is lower than the actual living wage, calculated as 50% of the average wage. According to this approach, the poverty level in Ukraine is about 60%, reflecting the real state. The integral index of quality of life in Ukraine, calculated on the basis of modern methodology, indicates its unsatisfactory condition throughout the analyzed period; this can be overcome only on the basis of sustainable development. The most important threats are outlined and ranked for the weight of influence. It is determined that the root cause of all threats to the quality of life, as well as social security in general, is the unacceptably low level of remuneration in output, which is significantly lagging behind similar indicators of economically developed countries and stipulates the corresponding humiliating social standards. In this regard, it is proposed to change the social policy by law through redistribution of income between labor and capital to the average level of the economically developed EU countries: labor – 29%, capital – 71%.