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Investigating Subjective and Objective Quality of Life in Rural Areas: the Case of Tehran Province in Iran

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Abstract

Given the importance of measuring QOL and the need for sound and efficient planning to improve and enhance the well-being of citizens, the objective of this study was to investigate QOL in rural areas of Tehran province, Iran. To this end, the relevant literature and secondary sources were used to develop a questionnaire whose validity was determined by a panel of experts. To the best knowledge of the authors, no similar study has assessed QOL in rural areas of Tehran province and none of them has compared objective and subjective QOL in rural areas. The findings showed that in terms of objective QOL, which indicates the minimum living standards, the villagers in Tehran province were in a moderate to high status, but in the subjective QOL, about 20% of the villagers were rated as poor. According to the findings, there was a significant difference between the residents of different rural areas of Tehran in terms of objective and subjective QOL at the 99% level, but the differences were not the same. This calls for policymakers’ attention. In this regard, policies should be put on the planning agenda to reduce rural migration by adopting a coordinated approach to rural and urban development and improving the physical and environmental conditions of rural communities to provide welfare services and reduce the disparity between urban and rural areas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Extension and Education Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Leila Ardestani, Shahla Choobchian & Hassan Sadighi

  2. Department of Geography, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Hossein Azadi

  3. Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, Czech Republic

    Hossein Azadi

  4. Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 818 South Beijing Road, Urumqi, 830011, Xinjiang, China

    Hossein Azadi & Alishir Kurban

  5. Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 818 South Beijing Road, Urumqi, 830011, Xinjiang, China

    Hossein Azadi & Alishir Kurban

  6. Sino-Belgian Joint Laboratory for Geo-Information, Urumqi, 830011, China

    Hossein Azadi & Alishir Kurban

  7. Institute of Economics and Social Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia

    Ants-Hannes Viira

  8. Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food - Skopje, Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia

    Vjekoslav Tanaskovik

  9. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Alishir Kurban

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  1. Leila Ardestani
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  2. Shahla Choobchian
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  3. Hassan Sadighi
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Ardestani, L., Choobchian, S., Sadighi, H. et al. Investigating Subjective and Objective Quality of Life in Rural Areas: the Case of Tehran Province in Iran. Applied Research Quality Life 17, 671–702 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-020-09897-0

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