What are we trying to Measure?

Summary Development means creating the conditions for the realization of human personality. Its evaluation must therefore take into account three linked economic criteria: whether there has been a reduction in (i) poverty; (ii) unemployment; (iii) inequality. G.N.P. can grow rapidly without any improvement on these criteria; so development must be measured more directly. The conceptual and practical problems of a number of indicators are discussed and also the implications for planning, both national and international. Notes Director of the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. The first third of this paper is derived from 'The meaning of development' published in the International Development Review (Vol. 11, No. 4, 1969), and republished in I.D.S. Communications Series, No. 44; Revista Brasileira de Economia, (Vol. 24, No. 3); Internationale Spectator, (Vol. XXIV, No. 21); Ekistics, 1970; Sociological Abstracts, U.S.A., 1970; The Political Economy of Development (ed. Ilchman and Uphoff) 1971; and INSIGHT, July 1971. I am grateful for comments from Hans Singer on a draft of this part, which was also discussed at seminars at the Universities of Boston and Toronto, and formed the basis of a lunch talk at the 11th World Conference of the Society for International Development (New Delhi, November 1969). The remainder was written specially for this collection.