International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 4 No. 5; May 2013 186 Quality Of Life in the 21 th Century: Narrowing the Gap between Rural and Urban Area Norudin Mansor Zainuddin Zakaria Faculty of Business Management Universiti Teknologi MARA Terengganu 23000 Dungun Terengganu Che Haspu Robiah Daud Mechanical Engineering Department Politeknik Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin 23000 Dungun Terengganu Abstract Over the years much has been written about the need to maintain quality of life. Yet there has been remarkably little attention given to the understanding of the construct involved. It is through this study we are expected to investigate the unique configuration of variables related to the surrounding elements. Using the cluster sampling approach at the initial stage, followed by the execution of purposive sampling to derive the taxonomy of quality life, a sample of 600 respondents were selected for the study. The investigation proposed that education, income, communication, safety and health, and transportation are the principal dimensions that form the framework for building quality of life. The importance and adequacy of their development viewed to be essential if economic and social equilibrium remain to be the national agenda in promoting the quality of life. The analysis revealed that the differences in the selected dimensions still manifest in education, communication, safety and health, and transportation. However in term of income disparity indicated of less differences. Keyword: quality of life, education, communication, safety and health, income, transportation. Introduction Nowadays, quality is important in our life. Quality of life means how good the life is and does a person having a certain standard of living that makes them living comfortably. Peoples define substances in terms of qualities such as education, salary, communication, safety and health and also transportation. For most of the worlds citizens the idea that life is getting better where average citizen lives comfortably, more social evils have been abated, untimely death is greatly reduced (Veenhoven, 2010, Moore and Simon, 2000) are among the examples of improvement for quality of life. With the improvement of socio-economic status of the population in most countries of the world, we are able to observe changes in the life style, skills training, cost of living, and also social mobility of the population from the urban and rural area to the industrialized zone in the state. This study focused the investigation only in the state of Terengganu, which is believed to be among the fast growing social economic state in Malaysia. It has 7 districts which are Kuala Terengganu, Kemaman, Dungun, Marang, Hulu Terengganu, Besut, and Setiu. This study, attempted to study the differences between rural and urban areas in the state of Terengganu in terms of quality of life. The areas that have been chosen are Kuala Terengganu, Kemaman and Hulu Terengganu. Problem Statement Usually peoples assume that the quality of life for most people is difference with each other depends on the area that they lived. The phenomenal differences were so obvious when comparison were to be made between rural and urban areas.