TommieMedia posted a popular infographic in October stating that Minnesota ranked second for best quality of life. The infographic listed statistics about topics such as employment rate and life expectancy, which were used as categories to determine the quality of life.

But can we objectively quantify the quality of life for not merely one individual but an entire state?

I agree that all of the statistics stated on the infographic provided indicators for a person to have a good life. The high employment rate, low poverty rate and high household disposable income per capita – which is the amount of money that households have available for spending and saving after taxes – show that most people in Minnesota have jobs and have, on average, a high standard of living. The low homicide rate, low mortality rate and high life expectancy all prove that Minnesotans typically live long lives. The high voter turnout and rate of high school graduates show that Minnesotans are educated and most want to be involved in their community by choosing their political leaders.

All of these facts conclude that Minnesota is a great place to live, but the question still remains if the quality of life can be reduced to statistics.

Some important concepts are left out, such as human rights, freedom and happiness. These concepts are much more subjective and are, therefore, hard to measure because they don’t always correlate with other categories. For example, someone could have a good education and a well-paying job but still feel unhappy or unable to express certain personal freedoms. There is a difference between saying there are things that can contribute to a good life and objectively stating the quality of life for a specific group of people.

The International Society for Quality of Life Research in its journal of Applied Research in the Quality of Life categorizes the study of the quality of life into four parts: ecology, economics, politics and culture. Adding a section on culture allows for a well-rounded definition of quality of life because it includes aspects and ideas that cannot be reduced to a number. There are certain parts of culture that can be determined numerically, such as counting the average number of community events a person attends each year to determine community involvement, but assigning a number to all the qualities of the human experience is not possible.

The complete quality of life cannot be quantified because there are some factors that must be taken into account that are immeasurable. I equate quality of life and the personal human experience, and neither can be reduced to statistics. So, while there are characteristics that can predict a good life for people overall, they cannot prove the personal quality of life for an individual or an entire state.

Claire Noack can be reached at noac8702@stthomas.edu.