Measures of Australia's Progress
From Wikiprogress.org
Contents |
About MAP
In the current version of MAP, there are 17 headline dimensions:
Society
- Health
- Education and training
- Work
- Family, community and social cohesion
- Crime
- Democracy, governance and citizenship
Economy
- National income
- National wealth
- Household economic wellbeing
- Housing
- Productivity
Environment
- Biodiversity
- Land
- Inland waters
- Oceans and estuaries
- Atmosphere
- Waste
Measures of Australia's Progress 2010
The latest version is Measures of Australiaʼs Progress 2010 and was released in September 2010. In 2011 the MAP team are consulting widely about what aspects of progress matter most to Australians with the aim of refreshing the MAP framework - see MAP 2.0.
Background
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has been measuring Australia's progress through the multitude of statistics relating to Australia's economy, society and environment. However, for the most part, the statistical publications have tended to be viewed in isolation.
Drawing on the debates arising from a range of international fora such as the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development (the Brundtland Commission) and the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, calls began to emerge from organisations such as the United Nations for better measures of social concerns to supplement the System of National Accounts (SNA).
Measuring Australia's Progress in an answer to that call. Each year, the ABS produces 2008 Measures of Australia's Progress: At a glance , a small booklet with summary indicators. The more detailed Measures of Australia's Progress, with over 100 indicators, is currently released every five years.
Measuring Progress - An ABS Approach
During 2000 and 2001, the ABS consulted a wide range of experts, organisations and individuals to understand what they saw as the most important dimensions of national progress. Recognising the multidimensional nature of progress, the indicators that were selected aim to measure national progress encompassing:
- the major direct influences on the changing well-being of the Australian population
- the structure and growth of the Australian economy
- the environment - important both as a direct influence on the wellbeing of Australians and the Australian economy, and because people value it in its own right.
Criteria for choosing progress indicators
As there are usually several competing indicators that might be included, the ABS chose among them by reference criteria. Headline indicators should:
- be relevant to the particular dimension of progress
- where possible, focus on outcomes for the dimension of progress (rather on the inputs or processes)
- show an unambiguous "good" direction of movement (signalling progress) and "bad" direction (signalling regress)
- be supported by timely data of good quality
- be available as a time series
- be sensitve to changes in the underlying phenomena captured by the dimension of progress
- be summary in nature
- preferably be capable of disaggregation by geography or population group
- be intelligible and easily interpreted by the general reader
MAP 2.0
Throughout 2011, the ABS will carry out extensive community consultation guided by an Expert Reference Group to incorporate the best learning and ideas from the international discussion on progress to carry forward its work on measuring progress and articulate how Australia's progress may best continue to be measured into the future. For more information please visit the Future directions on the MAP website.
See also
- Australia
- Progress
- Jon Hall
- MAP 2.0
- Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Australian National Development Index (ANDI)
External Links
Progress Papers and Publications
Measures of Australia's Progress: Summary Indicators
2008 Measures of Australia's Progress: At a glance
Relationships between domains of progress (ABS 2008)
Life satisfaction and measures of progress (ABS 2006)
Some international comparisons of progress (ABS 2006)
Multiple disadvantage (ABS 2004)
Progress indicators in other countries (ABS 2004)
Population, participation and productivity (ABS 2004)
