Standard of living in the countries of Europe and the European Union on the basis of Actual Individual Consumption per capita

Issues related to the standard of living are key aspects of regional policy and social development strategies. The standard of living is synonymous with the terms being, quality of life and well-being. For many years, the basic measure of the standard of living was GDP per capita. In 2012, Eurostat published a new alternative measure standard of living, which is the actual individual consumption per capita, expressed in purchasing power standards. The article presents the standard of living of the population and its spatial variation in the countries of Europe and the European Union. The aim of the study was to show the differences in standards of living, depending on the index used, namely the traditional GDP per capita, and the new AIC per capita.