Living standards of EU countries' residents: impact of education and innovation

The aim of the publication is an attempt to assess the impact of the level of education and innovation on a synthetic measure of living standards of European Union countries residents based on the estimation of the model in which the synthetic measure will be a dependent variable.The implementation of the objective required the use of descriptive-statistical methods, in particular, linear regression method.The Pearson's linear correlation coefficient was also used to study the relationship between quantitative variables -the synthetic measure and particular analysed determinant.The publication describes the essence of education and the level of innovation in the European Union countries and also reviews the theoretical concept of quality and standard of living in an objective approach.On the basis of Eurostat data from years 2006-2016, an attempt was made to assess the impact of higher education on the standard of living of the inhabitants of the European Community.The standard of the living measure will be calculated on the basis of five determinants: Economy and Finance, Science and Technology, Health, Education and Living Conditions.One of the authors of this paper enriched the dimensions of HDI indicator and proposed the modified index of the level of living.On the basis of the values of synthetic measures for each determinant of the standard of living, the final synthetic measure will be calculated as an arithmetic mean.The necessity of finding a new measurement of the standard of living in societies is emphasized by international organizations and especially scientists.That is why the author decided to modify the standard measure.Nowadays important factors are also science and technology and the standard of human living.The conducted research allowed to determine the relationship between the synthetic measure and important determinants characterizing the level of life.Finally estimated parameters of the linear regression models allowed to get the positive effects of education and innovation on the lives of individuals in the European Community.