There are living standards issues; one of the big ones is a map-is-not-the-territory problem: people treat "living standards" as if it's a single quantity.
It's really a whole bunch of different things coming together, with different people caring more or less about different things: some of us tie the idea of "living standards" to overall GDP or income per capita; others to house prices, cost of medical care, can they afford to start a family, etc., none of these options are entirely right nor are any entirely wrong.
For example:
I'm now living in a house so well insulated that when we accidentally switched the heating off it took a week to notice even though it was snowing outside; the air is clean everywhere (except on new year's night when the fireworks are ridiculous); there are cures for an increasing number of previously untreatable diseases.
When I was a kid, the wooden window frames would rot from the condensation in winter; the petrol contained lead, and indoor social areas permitted smoking; HIV was a death sentence.
By many measures, my living standards are way up. And yet, no kids to share this all with.