TL;DR

• Survival vs. Living Better: Survival is simply meeting the baseline biological and environmental conditions needed to sustain life (oxygen, water, nutrients, temperature, and atmospheric pressure). Living better goes beyond survival to achieve physical and mental autonomy, personal satisfaction, self-worth, and a sense of meaning.
• Components of Quality of Life (QOL): True QOL encompasses both functional capabilities and subjective well-being, such as how individuals emotionally experience events, evaluate their circumstances, and assign value to their lives.
• Cultural Context Matters: Universal metrics for QOL are limited because definitions of well-being and emotional expression vary across cultures. Evaluating how well someone lives requires looking through their specific cultural lens.

Background

While researching for the Space QOL and ECLSS Human Resource Development Program, I came across the question "What does it mean to live better as opposed to just survival?". While I had a general idea of "living better", I went further and defined both "survival" and "living better" myself. I decided to share what I found and my own definitions, and I invite you to come up with your own definitions and share them as well.

What is "Survival"?

In the Digital Daijisen dictionary, survival is defined as "living and existing in this world; continuing to sustain life."

For humans to live on Earth, the following are essential (reproduced based on OpenStax College):

• Oxygen: Essential for chemical reactions that produce ATP. It is especially critical for the brain: 5 minutes of oxygen deprivation causes brain damage, and 10 minutes carries a high probability of death.
• Nutrients:
  • Water: Makes up about 70% of an adult body. It is essential for internal chemical reactions and plays a key role in thermoregulation and protecting joints.
  • Macronutrients: Energy sources such as carbohydrates and lipids, as well as proteins that provide amino acids.
  • Micronutrients: Vitamins and minerals involved in regulating chemical reactions, nerve impulses, and physical structures (such as calcium).
• Temperature: Normal body temperature is around 37°C. If external conditions cause body temperature to rise above or fall below this level, enzyme structures break down, making normal metabolism impossible.
• Atmospheric Pressure: Keeps nitrogen dissolved in body fluids and is indispensable for the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Taking these factors into account, "survival" in this context is defined as follows:

Definition: A state in which humans are able to sustain life because the minimum necessary chemical substances or environmental factors required to preserve life are met.

What is Living Beyond "Survival"?

Beyond mere "survival," what constitutes a better life? This brings in the concept of QOL (Quality of Life). In the Digital Daijisen, it is defined as follows:

Broadly, it refers to a rich life in which one enjoys work and daily living in a favorable environment. Narrowly, particularly in the fields of medicine and welfare, it refers to the approach of restoring a patient's humanity and autonomy by improving their quality of life, rather than relying solely on life-sustaining treatment.

A prominent scale for measuring QOL is the "EQ-5D-5L," proposed in 2009 by EuroQol (2025). The EQ-5D-5L evaluates five dimensions on a 5-level scale: "Mobility," "Self-Care," "Usual Activities," "Pain/Discomfort," and "Anxiety/Depression."

Additionally, subjective well-being is sometimes included within QOL. Bowling (1997) argues that QOL encompasses physical condition as well as:

perceptions of well-being, a basic level of satisfaction and a general sense of self-worth

According to Ishikawa and Takano (2024), subjective well-being is measured across three dimensions:

1. Experience: "What emotions the subject felt through a given event" (e.g., evaluating whether positive or negative emotions were felt regarding an event).
2. Evaluation: "Making a comprehensive judgment about a given event using criteria that vary by individual" (e.g., asking individuals to rate an event with a score).
3. Meaning: "What value the subject assigned to a given event" (e.g., assessing what significance an event holds in one's life).

Based on these perspectives, "living better" is defined as follows:

Definition: A state in which not only are the minimum necessary conditions for staying alive met, but the individual is physically or mentally independent and feels satisfaction, self-worth, and meaning in their own life.

Further Discussion

Something that struck me during my research was the need for involvement of cultures in evaluating emotions regarding an event. Ishikawa and Takano (2024) note that while there are internationally widespread criteria methods for measuring experience, they do not encompass the full range of emotions in a particular country or region. They also mention that the very question of how many distinct, representative emotions there are also depends on culture.

Based on this, I think that evaluating experience needs to be done in the context of the culture it was experienced in. I also think that this means that well-being is defined on a per-culture basis, and it is difficult to have criteria that encompasses all cultures. If this is the case, the evaluation of Quality of Life should also have the culture taken into consideration.

References

1. デジタル大辞泉, 「生存」, JapanKnowledge, https://japanknowledge.com/lib/display/?lid=2001010202200 (10-17-2026)
2. OpenStax College, “Anatomy & Physiology. Chapter 1: An Introduction to the Human Body.”, Rice University, SUNY OER Services, https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-ap1/chapter/requirements-for-human-life-and-homeostasis/  (10-17-2026)
3. デジタル大辞泉, 「クオリティー‐オブ‐ライフ【quality of life】」, JapanKnowledge,　https://japanknowledge.com/lib/display/?lid=2001004967320  (10-17-2026)
4. EuroQol, 2025, “EQ-5D-5L”, EuroQol, https://euroqol.org/information-and-support/euroqol-instruments/eq-5d-5l/  (10-17-2026)
5. Edgar, A. Bowling, A.: 1997, Measuring Health; a Review of Quality of Life Measurement Scales (2nd ed.). Med Health Care Philos 1, 181–182 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009999222296 (10-17-2026)
6. 石川 善樹・高野 翔, 2024, 「主観的ウェルビーイングの測定法： 国際標準の現状と今後の展望」, Well-being Japan 2024, Society of Well-Being, https://society-of-wellbeing.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/wellbeing_report2024_1.pdf  (10-17-2026）

Cover photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash