Measuring Development - Key Indicators

There are many indicators to consider when taking a broad look at the process of economic development:

1. Risk of extreme poverty - % of the population living on less than $1.25 per day (measured at PPP)
2. Percentage of adult male and female labour in agriculture, % of arable land that is cultivated
3. Combined primary/secondary school enrolment figures and other indicators of progress in building human capital. The 1990 HDR started with this phrase: “People are the real wealth of a nation.”
4. Access to clean water / improved sanitation facilities
5. Energy consumption per capita / depth of hunger, incidence of malnutrition
6. Fertility rates, natural rate of growth of population
7. Prevalence of HIV, average life expectancy at birth, years of healthy life expectancy, child mortality
8. Access to mobile cellular phone services, access to bank accounts, insurance
9. Dependence of a country on foreign aid / levels of external debt
10. Availability of /scope of social support programmes through welfare programmes
11. Unemployment rates and vulnerable employment rates, % of female population in paid work
12. High-technology exports (% of manufactured exports), patterns of exports
13. Degree of primary export dependence
14. Changes in the published value of the Human Development Index (HDI)
15. Progress in improving outcomes using the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MDPI)
16. Progress in achieving the stated Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)