The article analyzes the indicators of the quality of life and substantiates the need for their rethinking. Global changes in the economy and society, scientific achievements keep current the issue of improving the indicators of the well-being of the population and methods of calculating them with an emphasis on identifying the final result. In particular, there is a need to reassess the consolidated indicators, namely the place of gross domestic product and other economic indicators in assessing the quality of life as the basis of people’s well-being. It is concluded that the methods of assessing the quality of life mainly take into account the material side of well-being, which can be quantified, but the subjective side of the state of people - expectations, emotional state, experiences, spiritual state, etc., completely fall out of sight. Such a predominance of the material and visible issues, materialized in measuring and assessing the standard of living does not give a complete picture of the quality of life of the population, which does not contribute to the development of adequate goals, means, methods and mechanisms for the improvement thereof.