Socio-economic Inequality: Threat to Economic Growth and the Quality of Life of the Population (Lithuania’s Case)

In Lithuania, socio-economic inequality (hereinafter: ‘SEI’) has recently overstepped the threshold of economic security and has become an impediment to economic development and the source of social tension. As the global research shows, firstly, excessive inequality impedes economic growth; secondly, distribution of the products created in defiance of social justice also has a negative impact on the population’s quality of life. The object of the present research is interdisciplinary, it encompasses economics and psychology and is examined at the macro- (state) and micro- (individual) levels. The methodology of the assessment of SEI adapted to Lithuania is developed, the factors determining SEI in Lithuania are explored at the macro- and micro-levels, social and economic inequality (income, consumption, material standard of living) of various groups of Lithuanian society and its consequences for the country’s economic and social development and the population’s quality of life are analyzed. The research pursues the aim of examining SEI in Lithuania as the essential factor of the quality of life of the population, basing the factors determining SEI and consequences for the population’s quality of life by means of scientific research and providing possible methods and tools for the reduction of SEI.