cultural standard; moral standard; social manners
Refers to the general level of culture, morality, and public behavior of a people or community. Often used in discussions comparing societies or evaluating public conduct.
I am amazed by the high cultural standard of this country.
standard of living
A less common usage, sometimes overlapping with 生活水準. May appear in older or formal texts.
After the war, improving the standard of living was considered an urgent task.
When the moral standard is low, public manners deteriorate.
Compound of 民 (people) and 度 (degree, standard). The exact origin is uncertain, but it likely emerged in modern Japanese to express the concept of a people's cultural or moral level.