A need is something that is necessary for organisms to live a healthy life. Needs are distinguished from wants because a deficiency would cause a clear negative outcome, such as dysfunction or death. Needs can be objective and physical, such as food and water, or they can be subjective and psychological, such as the need for self-esteem. On a societal level, needs are sometimes controversial, such as the need for a nationalized health care system. Understanding needs and wants is an issue in the fields of politics, social science, and philosophy.
In economics, a want is something that is desired. It is said that people have unlimited wants, but limited resources. Each person has wants. You might want a laptop while your best friend may want a desktop computer. Thus, people cannot have everything they want and must look for the best alternatives which they can afford.
Wants are often distinguished from needs. A need is something that is necessary for survival (such as food and shelter), whereas a want is simply something that a person would like to have. Some economists have rejected this distinction and maintain that all of these are simply wants, with varying levels of importance. By this viewpoint, wants and needs can be understood as examples of the overall concept of demand.
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