Economic welfare broadly refers to the level of prosperity and living standards in an individual or group of persons. In the field of economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, it specifically refers to utility

Utility

In economics, utility is a measure of customer satisfaction, referring to the total satisfaction received by a consumer from consuming a good or service....

 gained through the achievement of material goods and services. In other words, it refers to that part of social welfare

Welfare

Welfare refers to a broad discourse which may hold certain implications regarding the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens without the stigma of charity. This is termed "social solidarity"...

 that can be fulfilled through economic activity.

Measurement

Economic welfare is measured in different ways, depending on the preferences of those measuring it. Factors used to measure the economic welfare of a population, include GDP, literacy

Literacy

Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...

, access to health care, and assessments of environmental

Environment (biophysical)

The biophysical environment is the combined modeling of the physical environment and the biological life forms within the environment, and includes all variables, parameters as well as conditions and modes inside the Earth's biosphere. The biophysical environment can be divided into two categories:...

quality.