ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AS AN ECONOMIC CATEGORY

Quality of life (QOL) is a comprehensive characteristic of living standards and living conditions of the population. As an economic category, the QOL is characterized by a certain level of consumer freedom, which enables an individual to develop and realize his or her human potential. To obtain a quantitative description of the QOL in the sphere of consumption, based on the UN data on the individual consumer expenditures of households per capita of 22 countries of the European Union and Azerbaijan, the CFI was calculated using data visualization and the radar method. The results of the research allowed to determine the standard of consumer freedom, to rank and define TOP 5 countries with the highest CFI scores (Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Austria, Germany) and define countries with the lowest values of the CFI (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Azerbaijan). Comparison of consumer freedom radars allows to conclude the existence of consumer inequality in countries in question. In order to remove the gap in QOL of different countries, a number of measures were recommended. The practical value of the study lies in the development of a new methodology for assessing the QOL, based on the calculation of the CFI. The latter makes it possible to assess the extent of inequality in household consumption among different countries and develop measures to overcome this inequality. The formation of consumer freedom radars of different countries allows visualizing the results of the calculations, which facilitates the comparison of the QOL between countries. The methodology for assessing the QOL of the population, developed as a result of the study, will allow to perform a comparative analysis and track the dynamics of changes in the QOL in various countries and regions