Abstract:

The need for a better understanding of the complex phenomena which affects the current human life and the state of the individual leads the research to a new concept emerged from a multidisciplinary perspective – quality of life. This concept should give social scientist a better glance over the complexity of human action from the perspective of its ends: prosperity, welfare, and wellbeing, as concepts transcending mere economic meaning and define a much more complex phenomenon. Even though defining the quality of life concept is not an easy task, as argued by Nussbaum and Sen (1993), the term has been also validated as a defining element in current public policy regarding living standards and welfare of people. On the other hand, a numerous researches, conducted by important economists such as Barro, Mankiw and Romer are focusing on the impact of education on the prosperity of a nation. In the same time, the specialists are emphasizing the fact that the demographic trend represent one of the major challenges facing most of the EU member states, this having a lot of implications  on what concerns the number of persons involved in education, and implicitly on the nations prosperity. Starting from such a perspective, the present paper aims to assess the impact of demographic trends on the educational area in Romania, using the methodology and terms stated by the quality of life approach.