A Country's Standard of Living

　　The "standard of living"of any country means the average person's share of the goods and services the country produces. A country's standard of living, therefore , depends first and foremost on its capacity to produce wealth. "Wealth" in this sense is not money, for we do not live on money but on things that money can buy: "goods" such as food and clothing, and "services" such as transport and "entertainment".

　　A country's capacity to produce wealth depends upon many factors, most of which have an effect on one another. Wealth depends to a great extent upon a country's natural resources. Some regions of the world are well supplied with coal and minerals, and have fertile soil and a favorable climate; other regions possess none of them.

　　Next to natural resources comes the ability to turn them to use. China is perhaps as well-off as the USA in natural resources, but suffered for many years from civil and external was, and for this and other reasons was unable to develop her resources. Sound and stable political conditions, and freedom from foreign invasions, enable a country to develop its natural resources peacefully and steadily, and to produce more wealth than another country equally well favoured by nature but less well ordered.

　　A country's standard of living does not only depend upon the wealth that is produced and consumed within its own borders, but also upon what is directly producedt hrough  international trade. For example , Britain's wealth in foodstuffs and other agricultural products would be much less if she had to depend only on those grown at home. Trade makes it possible for her surplus manufactured goods to be traded abroad for the agricultural products that would otherwise be lacking. A country's wealth is, therefore, much influenced by its manufacturing capacity, provided that other countries can be found ready to accept its manufactures.