Indicators of Development

Introduction

This paper is mainly prepared in respect of Bangladesh context. Albeit, international perspective is also underlined in this paper. For Bangladesh, agriculture is the single largest producing sector of the economy, and it contributes about 22 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This sector is also account for around 48 percent of the total labor force (BBS, 2008b). Average per capita income in Bangladesh increased to US$599 during the fiscal y6ear July 1, 2007- June 30, 2008, mainly due to remittances from citizens working abroad. If average per capita income were to reach US$750, Bangladesh would progress from its present least developed country (LDC) status to a middle income economy (IANS, 2008). Bangladesh has a population of about 150 million, with a corresponding population density of more than 920 persons per square kilometer. During the first half of the last century the population increased by 45 percent. According to the Bangladesh Population Policy, the population should stabilize at 210 million by 2060 if replacement-level fertility is reached by 2010. It is interesting that there is a wide disparity between the estimates for the Government of Bangladesh and others on exactly when the population will stabilize. However, a comparison of the 2004 and 2007 BDHS surveys shows a marked rise in primary education among women (NIPORT et al, 2005). Employment status varies widely by sex: 68 percent of men and 23 percent of women are currently employed. There is no difference in employment levels between rural and urban areas for either men or women. Nevertheless, since 2004 the proportion of men who regularly listen to the radio has decreased from 52 percent to the current level of 38 percent. This may account for the decrease in the proportion of men exposed to all three media (newspaper, television, and radio) from 17 percent in 2004 to 10 percent in 2007. In remainder of the paper, other possible all indicators of development have critically discussed.

Objectives of the study

To advance the methodological understanding of the way in which sustainable development indicators (SDIs) are being developed.

To identify whether current methodologies allow for an inter-dimensional approach to the measurement of SD.

To examine whether one indicator can mostly represent the development of prescribed area/sector.

To identify the number of indicators are used to measure development in Bangladesh. To examine the current development of Bangladesh through development indicators. To indentify the variety of indicators used to measure development in international

level. To examine whether the indicators used in Bangladesh are guiding policies and

decisions at all levels of society. To examine whether the Indicators used are clearly defined.

Methodology

This paper has prepared through secondary analysis. This method is more rational for this paper because we can search through collections of information with a research question and variables in mind, and then reassemble the information in new ways to address the research question (Neuman, W.L., 2003). It is difficult to specify topics that are appropriate for existing statistics research because they are so varied. Any topic on which information has

been collected and is publicly available can be studied. In fact, existing statistics projects may not fit neatly into a deductive model of research design. Therefore, in secondary analysis, also the reason of my using, the focus is on analyzing rather than collecting data.

Literature Review

Bossel (1999) states that a number of requirements follow for finding indicators of sustainable development:

Indicators of sustainable development are needed to guide policies and decisions at all levels of society: village, town, city, and county, state region, nation, continent and world.

These indicators must represent all important concerns: an ad hoc collection of indicators that just seem relevant is not adequate. A more systematic approach must look at the interaction of systems and their environment.

The number of indicators should be as small as possible, but not smaller than necessary. That is, the indicator set must be comprehensive and compact, covering all relevant aspects.

The process of finding an indicator set must be participatory to ensure that the set encompasses the visions and values of the community or region for which it is developed.

Indicators must be clearly defined, reproducible, unambiguous, understandable and practical. They must reflect the interests and views of different stakeholders.

From a look at these indicators, it must be possible to deduce the viability and sustainability of current developments, and to compare with alternative development paths.

A framework, a process and criteria for finding and adequate set of indicators of sustainable development are needed.( Bossel , 1999, p 7)

Indicators summarize complex information of value to the observer:

Indicators are our link to the world. They condense its enormous complexity to a manageable amount of meaningful information, to a small sub set of observations informing our decisions and directing our actions. If we have learned to watch the relevant indicators, we can understand and cope with our dynamic environment. If we follow the wrong signals, we get confused or misled, responding inappropriately, against our intrinsic interests and intentions, going in a direction in which we don’t want to go.

Indicators represent valuable information. In the course of growing up, in our formal education, and in learning to cope with our specific personal and professional environment we have learned the meaning and significance of the indicators we use in our daily lives. The indicators we watch mean something to us; they are of value to us because they tell us something that is in some way important to us. They help us to construct a picture of the state of our environment of which we can base intelligent decisions to protect and promote what we care about. Indicators, therefore, are also an expression of values. (p 9)

Paraphrasing Albert Einstein, indicator sets should be as simple as possible, but not simpler. The simplest solution would be to agree on a single indicator. What that work?

For ages people have been judged by a single indicator: their wealth. But that single magic figure of x million dollars, or y hundred hectares of land, or z head of cattle implicitly expressed much more than property: it expressed the ability to buy sufficient food, to build a comfortable house, to feed even a large family, to live in luxury, to educate children, to pay

for health care, and to support oneself in old age. And it implied that under these circumstances one could be reasonably happy. In other words, under prevailing conditions, wealth could be used as an aggregate indicator for completely different dimensions of life contributing to general happiness. But it could not account for personal tragedy or disability, and wealth would fail as an indicator for happiness if, say, the children were killed in an accident. In real life we usually need more than one indicator to capture all important aspects of a situation. A single indicator can never tell the whole story. (Bossel, 1999, P 11-12)

A single indicator like GDP cannot capture all vital aspects of sustainable development. The fascination with a single indicator has carried over to economics and national development, with a rather bizarre twist: economics have not focused on per capita wealth (of financial assets, land or resources), but- in addition to an indicator that essentially measures the rate at which natural resource wealth is being depleted- the faster, the better. This is the GDP indicator – gross domestic product- the total money value of the annual flow of goods and services produced in an economy. This includes all goods and services, irrespective of their contribution to national development: social goods (such as education, food and housing) as well as social bad (such as cost of crime, pollution, car accidents, disability and poor health). Since, with current technology, each of these goods and services is associated with significant consumption of non-renewable resources and generation of environmental pollution, GDP is now mainly a measure of how fast resources are squandered and converted into money flows, irrespective of their effect on society (Cobb et al, 1995, pp. 59-78).

Ad hoc or trial-and-error selection of indicators is inadequate. In response to the deficiencies of the aggregate indicator concept, some researchers prefer to use more or less extensive lists of indicators covering the problem area under investigation (United Nations, February 1996) and World Bank, Monitoring Environmental Progress, Washington D.C., 1995). While they are an improvement over the aggregate indicator concept, these lists must be criticized on several counts: 1. They are derived ad hoc, without a systems theoretical framework to reflect the operation and viability of the total system; 2. They always reflect the specific expertise and research interest of their authors; 3. As a consequence of 1 and 2, they are overly dense in some areas (multiple indicators for essentially the same concern), and spare or even empty in other important areas. In other word they are not a systematic and complete reflection of the total system i.e., human society in interaction with its natural environment (Bossel, 1999, p 13).

In order to define an indicator set for the assessment of societal development, we must first identify the different relevant sectors or subsystems of the societal system. We must include the system that constitute society as well as the systems on which human society depends. A useful distinction of subsystems is the following: individual development, social system, government, infrastructure, economic system, resources and environment (Bossel, 1998).

Jorgenson and Fraument purports that it is only in recent decades with the study of productivity that the notion of human capital has come to the forefront in economics. Although there is now a growing body of academic research on the subject, there exist no official estimates of human capital in Canada (or any other country for that matter) at this time. They added it is important to bear in mind the distinction between human capital and labor. Human capital comprises the stock of educated and experienced workers in the economy, and labor is the output of this stock. Of course, labor has been studied by economists since the beginning of their science. The explicit study of human capital as the stock from which labor flows in, however, more recent (Jorgenson and Fraument, 1998).

Health is an important indicator of development. But it is a problem to get a reliable source of health data. Therefore, we are looking at some reliable source. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has made major efforts in recent years to strengthen the collection and reporting of comparative statistics in the field of health and the assessment of health systems. It has produced a CD-ROM on health data containing 1200 health indicators across 29 countries for the period 1960-1999. The OECD also recently developed a System of Health Accounts (OECD, A System of Health Accounts, 2000) that provides a set of comprehensive, consistent and flexible accounts to meet the needs of government and private sector analysts and policy makers. These accounts constitute a common framework for enhancing the comparability of data over time and across countries and suggest links to non-monetary indicators. The World Bank has also done considerable work in assessing the health of the world’s population. For example, a recent study entitled MEASURING COUNTRY PERFORMANCE ON HEALTH: selected indicators for 115 countries (World Bank, 1999) provide comprehensive data on health to assess trends in most countries in the world.

Indicators of sustainable development based on the concept of capital should provide direct measures of the quantity and quality of capital. Indicators of this sort are the first order choice. Not all capital lends itself to direct measurement, however. Ecosystems in particular are not observable in a quantitative sense and even evaluating them in a qualitative sense is not straightforward. A second order choice of indicator in these cases can be developed by considering the outcomes of the functioning of capital. Presumably, if the outcomes of capital functioning remain of constant quantity or quality over time, then one can conclude that the capital itself remains intact. A third order choice of indicator would look at the demand for capital services. While indicators of this sort say nothing about the actual quantity or quality of capital available, they do measure how the use of the capital evolves over time. Presumably, if the demand for capital is steadily increasing, eventually the point will be reached where it will outstrip the capacity of the capital to provide service. (Smith R. et al., 2001).

Resnick and colleagues (1997) used the term school connectedness to describe adolescents’ perception of safety, belonging, respect and feeling cared for at school. In a cross-sectional analysis of risk and protective factors for eight different health risk outcomes among adolescents, Resnick et al. (1997) identified school connectedness as the only school-related variable that was protective for every single outcome. Widespread dissemination of this finding along with its intuitive appeal, has led to an eagerness of the part of state health departments and school boards to monitor how well they are doing in terms of promoting school connectedness (Resnick et al, 823-32).

It is well recognized that environmental indicators are vitally needed to capture trends in ways that policy makers and others can grasp immediately. As Mathews and Tunstall(1991) have pointed out “economic planning would be unthinkable without GNP figures, unemployment rates, and the like; so would social planning without such indicators as life expectancy and rates of fertility, infant mortality and literacy. Yet, environmental policy-making has no comparable measures today”. New are needed to guide policy-makers in their assessment of environmental quality and to enable they integration of environmental, economic and social concerns for sustainable development planning. Such indicators will be a vital ingredient in the development and monitoring of national strategies for sustainable development.

Dalal-Clayton (1993) claims that it will be extremely important to avoid focusing on indicators that is difficult or impossible to measure in developing countries. Simple and practical indices are required. He adds GDP is perhaps the most used hard measure of development, but it fails to allow for capital maintenance of natural assets and takes limited account of the contribution of the environment to economic activity. As a consequence, these measures might actually discourage the implementation of su8stainaaabel development policies, particularly in countries with an economy which is heavily dependent on the use of natural resources.

Holmberg (1991) has suggested a typology of the indicators that might be considered:

Environmental indicators-measuring changes in the state of the environment Sustainability indicators- measuring the distance between that change and a

sustainable state of the environment. Sustainable development indicators- measuring progress towards the broader goal of

sustainable development in the national context.

Findings

Social development indicators:

Standards of living are difficult to measure, but indicators of social development do exist. One of the crudest measures is Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, determined by the value of all goods and services produced within a region over a given time period, averaged per person. A more advanced metric, called the Human Development Index (HDI), considers life expectancy, education, and GDP. The highest HDI ranked countries in the world are Iceland and Norway, with the United States ranked 12 th (United Nations, 2008) Several of the indicators discussed below are used to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)- a set of targets agreed upon by United Nations member states as crucial for global human progress. There are targets for reducing extreme poverty, hunger, disease, and environmental impacts. Africa is frequently cited because of the number and severity of difficulties in the region.

Population:

The U.S. population in over 300 million and the world population are over 6.7 billion (United States Census Bureau, 2009).

The global population is projected to reach 9.2 billion in 2050, with 6.4 billion people living in urban areas- nearly double the number in urban areas in 2007 (United Nations Population Division, 2008).

Some of the most significant issues affecting population in 2007, as reported by governments around the world, include: HIV/AIDS, infant and child mortality, maternal mortality, adolescent fertility, and life expectancy at birth (United Nations Population Division, 2007).

Fertility rate is the number of births per woman of child-bearing age. World fertility rate is expected to fall from 2.56 children per women in 2005-2010 to 2.02 in 2045-2050 (United Nations Population Division, 2009) As of 2009, fertility rate is still as high as 7 in some parts of Africa; in the U.S. it is 2.05 (CIA World Fact book, 2009).

According to a United Nations report, contraceptive use is increasing globally. However, in at least 43 countries more than 20% of the women of reproductive age have an unmet need for

family planning, and 30 of these countries are in Africa (United Nations Population Division, 2009).

The U.S. is one of only three developed countries with an adolescent birth rate greater than 30 (per 1000 births) (United Nations Population Division, 2009).

Standard of living:

In 2005 there were 1.4 billion people living below the world poverty line of $1.25 USD per day, down from 1.9 billion in 1981. The World Bank Chief Economist experts to achieve the MDG to cut 1990 poverty levels in half by 2015 (World Bank, 2008).

The Gain Index, a measurement of wealth distribution (0= perfect equality, 1=all wealth concentrated), ranks Denmark, Japan, and Sweden as having the highest income distribution equality. Of the 125 countries with a Gain Index score, the U.S. is ranked 71st (United Nations, 2008).

In 2007 over 12% of the total U.S. population, or 37 million people, lived in poverty- e.g., income under $21,027 for family of 4 with 2 children. Rates were especially high for Hispanic and Black populations, with more than 20% of each group living in poverty (Carmen, 2009).

Approximately 335,000 people are homeless in the U.S (UNFAO, 2006).

Food:

The average disposable income spent on food, beverage, and tobacco ranges from 17% in high-income countries to 53% in low-income countries. On average, Americans spend less than 10% while Nigerians spend 73% (USDA, 2003).

Globally, 30% of death of children under 5 is caused by under nutrition (WHO, 2009).

The Green Revolution led to large increases in agricultural yields, and helped feed the rapidly growing global population in the second half of the 20th Century. Sub-Saharan Africa was the only developing region where food production increased primarily because of increased crop area, not crop yield.

The UNFAO publishes a comprehensive list of food security statistics (UNFAO, 2006).

Water and Sanitation:

2.5 billion People lack access to proper sanitation. Coverage is lowest in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where only 1 of 3 people have proper facilities. Generally, urban areas also have significantly better sanitation coverage- 79% compared to 45% coverage in rural areas (WHO/UNICEF, 2008).

As of 2006, 87% of the world population had access to clean drinking water- 1.6 billion more people than in 1990. But in sub-Saharan Africa only 58% of the population has clean drinking water, and 18% of the population has to travel more than 30 minutes to get this water. In developing countries it’s most common for women to collect the water (WHO/UNICEF, 2008).

Privatization of water services can increase prices, which disproportionately affect the poor; companies also tend to avoid investment in low-income countries because of the high risk (Naren, 2006).

Healthcare and Disease:

In 2007, 90% of governments reported HIV/AIDS as a significant problem.4 Sub-Saharan Africa has only 12% of the world’s population but 66% of the HIV/AIDS cases- 22.0 million (Population Reference Bureau, 2008).

Diarrheal disease kills 1.8 million people annually- 90% are children under5. About 88% of the infections are attributable to unsafe drinking water, improper sanitation services, and hygiene (WHO, 2004).

In 2006, about 880,000 people died from malaria- 91% were in Africa and 85% were children under 5. Preventive measures like treated bed nets, indoor insecticide spraying, and anti-malarial drugs have reduced malarial deaths in Africa, but current funding is insufficient (WHO, 2008).

Indoor cooking with fuel wood and animal dung results in 1.5 million deaths per year, more than 50% of which are children under 5 (United Nations, 2008).

Cardiovascular disease is the leading causes of death in the world. A healthy diet, regular physical activity, and avoiding tobacco could lower premature deaths from cardiovascular diseases and strokes by 80% (WHO, 2009).

Globally, about 150 million people incur catastrophic healthcare costs each year (greater than 40% of household’s capacity to pay) (WHO, 2008).

Education and Employment:

Socioeconomic status is a strong predictor of health, and is typically determined by education, income, and occupation. One study found that education is the single strongest indicator of good health.

Between 1991 and 2005, primary school enrollment in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 52% to 72%, but is still far below the 2005 world average of 87%.

In at least a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, India, and Yemen, the illiteracy rate easy at least 25% higher for females than males. In Afghanistan the female illiteracy rate is 87%, the highest in the world (ILO, 2007).

Globally, unemployment rates vary from less than 1% to greater than 90% (CIA World Fact book, 2009).

Environment:

Most global warming is “very likely” (>90% certainty) caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. In the 21st Century, natural and systems will likely experience increasing risk of extinction for 20-30% of plant and animal species, coastal flooding and erosion, heat waves, droughts, tropical storm intensity, and health risks associated with malnutrition and water-related diseases. Declines in crop productivity in lower latitudes and freshwater availability are likely. Peer communities are especially vulnerable to climate change because

of their low adaptive capacity and high dependence on climate conditions (e.g., rain for agriculture) (IPCC, 2007).

The Stern Review found that investing 1% of global GDP annually in greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions could avert a permanent reduction of 5.20% GDP per capita, due to climate change impacts (Stern et al, 2006) The intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that regional GHG mitigation costs vary considerably, but range from -1% (a net grain) to 5.5% of GDP on average globally (IPCC, 2007).

Indicators of development (World Bank, 2010):

Agricultural land (% of land area)

Agricultural machinery, tractors per 100 sq. km of arable land

Agricultural methane emissions (% of total)

Agricultural nitrous oxide emissions (% of total)

Agriculture, value added (% of GDP)

Agriculture value added per worker (constant 2000 US$)

Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide

Alternative and nuclear energy (% of total energy use)

Annual freshwater withdrawals, agriculture (% of total freshwater withdrawal)

Annual freshwater withdrawals, domestic (% of total freshwater withdrawal)

Annual freshwater withdrawals, industry (% of total freshwater withdrawal)

Annual freshwater withdrawals, total (billion cubic meters)

Arable land (hectares per person)

Arable land (% of land area)

Average number of times firms spent in meetings with tax officials

Bank capital to assets ratio (%)

Bank nonperforming loans to total gross loans (%)

Birth rate, crude (per 1,000 people)

Births attended by skilled health staff (% of total)

Cash surplus/deficit (% of GDP)

Central government debt, total (% of GDP)

Cereal yield (kg per hectare)

Children out of school, primary, female

Children out of school, primary, male

Claims on governments, etc. (annual growth as % of M2)

Claims on private sector (annual growth as % of M2)

CO2 emissions (kt)

CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita)

Combustible renewable and waste (% of total energy)

Container port traffic (TEU: 20 foot equivalent units)

Contraceptive prevalence (% of women ages 15-49)

CPIA economic management cluster average (1=low to 6=high)

CPIA policies for social inclusion/equity cluster average (1=low to 6=high)

CPIA public sector management and institutions cluster average (1=low to 6=high)

CPIA structural policies cluster average (1=low to 6=high)

Credit depth of information index (0=low to 6=high)

Crop production index (1999-2001 = 100)

Current account balance (BoP, current US$)

Daily newspapers (per 1,000 people)

Death rate, crude (per 1,000 people)

Deposit interest rate (%)

Documents to export (number)

Documents to import (number)

Domestic credit provided by banking sector (% of GDP)

Domestic credit to private sector (% of GDP)

Ease of doing business index (1=most business-friendly regulations)

Economically active children, female (% of female children ages 7-14)

Economically active children, male (% of male children ages 7-14)

Economically active children, study and work, female (% of female economically active children, ages 7-14)

Economically active children, study and work, male (% of male economically active children, ages 7-14)

Economically active children, total (% of children ages 7-14)

Economically active children, work only, female (% of female economically active children, ages 7-14)

Economically active children, work only, male (% of male economically active children, ages 7-14)

Electric power consumption (kWh per capita)

Employees, agriculture, female (% of female employment)

Employees, agriculture, male (% of male employment)

Employees, industry, female (% of female employment)

Employees, industry, male (% of male employment)

Employees, services, female (% of female employment)

Employees, services, male (% of male employment)

Employment in agriculture (% of total employment)

Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (%)

Energy imports, net (% of energy use)

Energy production (kt of oil equivalent)

Energy related methane emissions (% of total)

Energy related nitrous oxide emissions (% of total)

Energy use (kg of oil equivalent per capita)

Energy use (kt of oil equivalent)

Expenditure per student, primary (% of GDP per capita)

Expenditure per student, secondary (% of GDP per capita)

Expenditure per student, tertiary (% of GDP per capita)

Expense (% of GDP)

Exports of goods and services (% of GDP)

Export value index (2000 = 100)

Export volume index (2000 = 100)

External debt stocks (% of GNI)

External debt stocks, private nonguaranteed (PNG) (DOD, current US$)

External debt stocks, public and publicly guaranteed (PPG) (DOD, current US$)

External debt stocks, short-term (DOD, current US$)

External debt stocks, total (DOD, current US$)

Fertility rate, total (births per woman)

Fertilizer consumption (kilograms per hectare of arable land)

Firms using banks to finance investment (% of firms)

Fish species, threatened

Fixed broadband Internet subscribers (per 100 people)

Food production index (1999-2001 = 100)

Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$)

Forest area (% of land area)

Forest area (sq. km)

Fossil fuel energy consumption (% of total)

GDP (current US$)

GDP growth (annual %)

GDP per capita (current US$)

GDP per person employed (constant 1990 PPP $)

GDP per unit of energy use (constant 2005 PPP $ per kg of oil equivalent)

GEF benefits index for biodiversity (0 = no biodiversity potential to 100 = maximum)

GNI, Atlas method (current US$)

GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$)

GNI per capita, PPP (current international $)

GNI, PPP (current international $)

Grants, excluding technical cooperation (current US$)

Gross capital formation (% of GDP)

Gross intake rate in grade 1, female (% of relevant age group)

Gross intake rate in grade 1, male (% of relevant age group)

Gross savings (% of GDP)

Health expenditure per capita (current US$)

Health expenditure, public (% of total health expenditure)

Health expenditure, total (% of GDP)

Highest marginal tax rate, corporate rate (%)

Highest marginal tax rate, individual (on income exceeding, US$)

Highest marginal tax rate, individual rate (%)

High-technology exports (current US$)

High-technology exports (% of manufactured exports)

Households with television (%)

IBRD loans and IDA credits (DOD, current US$)

ICT goods exports (% of total goods exports)

ICT goods imports (% total goods imports)

ICT service exports (% of service exports, BoP)

IDA resource allocation index (1=low to 6=high)

Immunization, DPT (% of children ages 12-23 months)

Immunization, measles (% of children ages 12-23 months)

Imports of goods and services (% of GDP)

Import value index (2000 = 100)

Import volume index (2000 = 100)

Improved sanitation facilities (% of population with access)

Improved sanitation facilities, urban (% of urban population with access)

Improved water source, rural (% of rural population with access)

Improved water source, urban (% of urban population with access)

Incidence of tuberculosis (per 100,000 people)

Income share held by fourth 20%

Income share held by highest 10%

Income share held by highest 20%

Income share held by lowest 10%

Income share held by lowest 20%

Income share held by second 20%

Income share held by third 20%

Industry, value added (% of GDP)

Inflation, consumer prices (annual %)

Inflation, GDP deflator (annual %)

Informal payments to public officials (% of firms)

Information and communication technology expenditure (% of GDP)

Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate, %)

International Internet bandwidth (bits per person)

International migrant stock, total

International voice traffic (minutes per person)

Internet users

Internet users (per 100 people)

Investment in energy with private participation (current US$)

Investment in telecoms with private participation (current US$)

Investment in transport with private participation (current US$)

Investment in water and sanitation with private participation (current US$)

ISO certification ownership (% of firms)

Labor force, total

Labor participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+)

Labor participation rate, male (a% of male population ages 15+)

Labor participation rate, total (% of total population ages 15+)

Land area (sq. km)

Land under cereal production (hectares)

Lead time to export, median case (days)

Lead time to import, median case (days)

Lending interest rate (%)

Life expectancy at birth, female (years)

Life expectancy at birth, male (years)

Life expectancy at birth, total (years)

Listed domestic companies, total

Literacy rate, adult total (% of people ages 15 and above)

Literacy rate, youth female (% of females ages 15-24)

Literacy rate, youth male (% of males ages 15-24)

Literacy rate, youth total (% of people ages 15-24)

Livestock production index (1999-2001 = 100)

Logistics performance index: Overall (1=low to 5=high)

Long-term unemployment, female (% of female unemployment)

Long-term unemployment, male (% of male unemployment)

Long-term unemployment (% of total unemployment)

Malnutrition prevalence, height for age (% of children under 5)

Malnutrition prevalence, weight for age (% of children under 5)

Mammal species, threatened

Marine protected areas (number)

Marine protected areas (% of total surface area)

Market capitalization of listed companies (current US$)

Market capitalization of listed companies (% of GDP)

Maternal mortality ratio (modeled estimate, per 100,000 live births)

Merchandise trade (% of GDP)

Methane emissions (kt of CO2 equivalent)

Military expenditure (% of central government expenditure)

Military expenditure (% of GDP)

Mobile and fixed-line telephone subscribers

Mobile and fixed-line telephone subscribers (per 100 people)

Mobile and fixed-line telephone subscribers per employee

Mobile cellular prepaid tariff (US$ per month)

Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people)

Money and quasi money growth (annual %)

Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births)

Mortality rate, under-5 (per 1,000)

Motor vehicles (per 1,000 people)

Net barter terms of trade index (2000 = 100)

Net flows on external debt, long-term (NFL, current US$)

Net flows on external debt, total (NFL, current US$)

Net migration

Net ODA received (% of GNI)

Net ODA received per capita (current US$)

Net official development assistance and official aid (current US$)

Net official development assistance received (current US$)

New businesses registered (number)

Nitrous oxide emissions (thousand metric tons of CO2 equivalent)

Organic water pollutant (BOD) emissions (kg per day)

Organic water pollutant (BOD) emissions (kg per day per worker)

Other greenhouse gas emissions, HFC, PFC and SF6 (thousand metric tons of CO2 equivalent)

Out-of-pocket health expenditure (% of private expenditure on health)

Passenger cars (per 1,000 people)

Patent applications, nonresidents

Patent applications, residents

Permanent cropland (% of land area)

Persistence to last grade of primary, female (% of cohort)

Persistence to last grade of primary, male (% of cohort)

Personal computers (per 100 people)

Plant species (higher), threatened

PM10, country level (micrograms per cubic meter)

Population ages 0-14 (% of total)

Population ages 15-64 (% of total)

Population ages 65 and above (% of total)

Population covered by mobile cellular network (%)

Population, female (% of total)

Population growth (annual %)

Population in the largest city (% of urban population)

Population in urban agglomerations of more than 1 million (% of total population)

Population, total

Portfolio investment, equity (BoP, current US$)

Poverty gap at $1.25 a day (PPP) (%)

Poverty gap at $2 a day (PPP) (%)

Poverty gap at national poverty line (%)

Poverty gap at rural poverty line (%)

Poverty gap at urban poverty line (%)

Poverty headcount ratio at $1.25 a day (PPP) (% of population)

Poverty headcount ratio at $2 a day (PPP) (% of population)

Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty line (% of population)

Poverty headcount ratio at rural poverty line (% of rural population)

Poverty headcount ratio at urban poverty line (% of urban population)

Pregnant women receiving prenatal care (%)

Prevalence of HIV, female (% ages 15-24)

Prevalence of HIV, male (% ages 15-24)

Prevalence of HIV, total (% of population ages 15-49)

Primary completion rate, female (% of relevant age group)

Primary completion rate, male (% of relevant age group)

Primary completion rate, total (% of relevant age group)

Private credit bureau coverage (% of adults)

Progression to secondary school, female (%)

Progression to secondary school, male (%)

Proportion of seats held by women in national parliaments (%)

Public credit registry coverage (% of adults)

Public spending on education, total (% of GDP)

Public spending on education, total (% of government expenditure)

Pump price for diesel fuel (US$ per liter)

Pump price for gasoline (US$ per liter)

Pupil-teacher ratio, primary

Rail lines (total route-km)

Ratio of female to male enrollments in tertiary education

Ratio of female to male primary enrollment

Ratio of female to male secondary enrollment

Ratio of girls to boys in primary and secondary education (%)

Real interest rate (%)

Refugee population by country or territory of asylum

Refugee population by country or territory of origin

Renewable internal freshwater resources per capita (cubic meters)

Renewable internal freshwater resources, total (billion cubic meters)

Repeaters, primary, female (% of female enrollment)

Repeaters, primary, male (% of male enrollment)

Research and development expenditure (% of GDP)

Researchers in R&D (per million people)

Revenue, excluding grants (% of GDP)

Rigidity of employment index (0=less rigid to 100=more rigid)

Risk premium on lending (prime rate minus treasury bill rate, %)

Road sector fuel consumption (% of total consumption)

Roads, paved (% of total roads)

Royalty and license fees, payments (BoP, current US$)

Royalty and license fees, receipts (BoP, current US$)

Rural population

Rural population (% of total population)

School enrollment, preprimary (% gross)

School enrollment, primary (% gross)

School enrollment, primary (% net)

School enrollment, secondary (% gross)

School enrollment, secondary (% net)

School enrollment, tertiary (% gross)

Scientific and technical journal articles

Secure Internet servers (per 1 million people)

Services, etc., value added (% of GDP)

Share of women employed in the nonagricultural sector (% of total nonagricultural employment)

S&P Global Equity Indices (annual % change)

Start-up procedures to register a business (number)

Stocks traded, total value (% of GDP)

Stocks traded, turnover ratio (%)

Strength of legal rights index (0=weak to 10=strong)

Tax payments (number)

Tax revenue (% of GDP)

Technical cooperation grants (current US$)

Technicians in R&D (per million people)

Teenage mothers (% of women ages 15-19 who have had children or are currently pregnant)

Telecommunications revenue (% GDP)

Terrestrial protected areas (number)

Terrestrial protected areas (% of total surface area)

Time required to start a business (days)

Time to prepare and pay taxes (hours)

Time to resolve insolvency (years)

Total businesses registered (number)

Total debt service (% of exports of goods, services and income)

Total reserves (includes gold, current US$)

Total tax rate (% of profit)

Trade in services (% of GDP)

Trademark applications, direct nonresident

Trademark applications, direct resident

Trained teachers in primary education (% of total teachers)

Transport sector diesel fuel consumption per capita (liters)

Transport sector gasoline fuel consumption per capita (liters)

Unemployment, female (% of female labor force)

Unemployment, male (% of male labor force)

Unemployment, total (% of total labor force)

Unemployment, youth female (% of female labor force ages 15-24)

Unemployment, youth male (% of male labor force ages 15-24)

Unmet need for contraception (% of married women ages 15-49)

Urban population

Urban population (% of total)

Use of IMF credit (DOD, current US$)

Value lost due to electrical outages (% of sales)

Vehicles (per km of road)

Vulnerable employment, female (% of female employment)

Vulnerable employment, male (% of male employment)

Vulnerable employment, total (% of total employment)

Water pollution, chemical industry (% of total BOD emissions)

Water pollution, clay and glass industry (% of total BOD emissions)

Water pollution, food industry (% of total BOD emissions)

Water pollution, metal industry (% of total BOD emissions)

Water pollution, other industry (% of total BOD emissions)

Water pollution, paper and pulp industry (% of total BOD emissions)

Water pollution, textile industry (% of total BOD emissions)

Water pollution, wood industry (% of total BOD emissions)

Workers' remittances and compensation of employees, received (current US$)

TABLE 1: MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOAL INNDICATORS

Goal Indicator Male Female Total1.eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

4. Prevalence of underweight children under five years of age

39.9 42.1 41.0

2. achieve universal primary education

8. Literacy rate of 15-24 year-olds 62.1 74.7 Na

3. promote gender equality and empower women

9. Ratio of girls to boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education10. Ratio of literature women to men, 15-24 year-old

Na

Na

Na

Na

1.03

1.20

4.Reduce child mortality 13. Under-five mortality rate14. Infant mortality rate 82.1 84.0 83.1

15. Percentage of 1 year-old children immunized against measles

5.Improve maternal health

17. Percentage of births attended by skilled health personnel

Na Na 18.0

6.Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

19. Percentage of current users of contraceptive who are using condoms19B. Percentage of population aged 15-24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS19C. Contraceptive prevalence rate

Na

17.9

Na

8.1

8.0

55.8

Na

Na

Na7.Ensure environmental sustainability

29. Percentage of population using solid fuels 30. Percentage of population with sustainable access to an improved water source, urban and rural 31. Percentage of population with access to improved sanitation, urban and rural

62.1

99.5

40.2

99.3

96.3

25.2

91.0

97.0

28.5

Na= not applicable

SOURCE: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 2: trends in population by age

age group

1989bfs

1989cps

1991cps

1993-1994 Bangladesh demographic and health survey

1996-97Bangladesh demographic and health survey

1999-2000Bangladesh demographic and health survey

2004Bangladesh demographic and health survey

2007Bangladesh demographic and health survey

<15 43.2 43.2 42.7 42.6 41.0 39.2 38.2 36.315-59 50.9 50.9 51.2 51.2 53.1 54.4 55.1 56.660+ 5.9 5.9 6.0 6.2 5.9 6.4 6.6 7.1total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0median age

u u u 18.4 18.8 19.5 20.2 21.2

BFS= Bangladesh Fertility Survey, CPS= Contraceptive Prevalence Survey, BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY= Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey, u= Unknown (not available)

Source: Huq and Cleland, 1990:38; Mitra et al., 1997:9; NIPORT et al., 2001: 21; NIPORT et al., 2005: 13

Table 3: Household composition

Characteristics Residence Urban Rural Total

Sex of head of householdMale 88.6 86.8 87.2Female 11.4 13.2 12.8Total 100.0 100.0 100.0Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 4: Household Sanitation facilities

Households Population Types of toilet/latrine facility Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Improved, not shared facility 37.4 22.0 25.3 40.2 25.2 28.5Flush to piped sewer system 5.9 0.1 1.4 6.0 0.2 1.5

Flush/ pour flush to septic tank 20.3 5.7 8.9 21.7 6.9 10.2Flush/ pour flush to pit latrine 3.9 3.0 3.2 4.3 3.5 3.7Pit latrine with slab 7.3 13.1 11.8 8.2 14.6 13.2Non- improved facility 62.5 78.0 74.6 59.8 74.8 71.4Any facility shared with other households 21.9 13.0 14.9 19.9 11.5 13.4Flush/pour flush not to sewer/septic tank/pit latrine 14.0 0.5 3.5 13.5 0.6 3.5Pit latrine without slab/open pit 19.7 43.1 38.0 19.5 42.3 37.3Bucket 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1Hanging toilet/hanging latrine 5.2 11.1 9.8 5.1 11.1 9.8No facility/bush/field 1.8 10.2 8.4 1.7 9.1 7.5Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0number 2267 8133 10400 10874 38045 48919Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 5: wealth quintiles

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 6: Educational attainment of the male household population

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 7: Educational attainment of the female household population

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 8: School attendance

MALE FEMALE TOTALAge Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total6-15 76.7 77.6 77.4 78.8 82.6 81.9 77.8 80.1 79.66-10 84.4 84.6 84.6 86.8 88.3 88.0 85.6 86.4 86.311-15 68.4 68.6 68.6 70.7 76.0 74.8 69.6 72.4 71.816-20 35.1 29.3 30.8 31.4 19.5 22.4 33.1 23.8 26.021-24 24.9 11.6 15.3 15.3 4.5 7.2 19.3 7.3 10.5Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 9: Employment status

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 10: Educational attainment: Women

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 11: Educational attainment: men

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 12: Literacy: women

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 200

Table 13: Household drinking water

SOURCE: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 14: Literacy: men

SOURCE: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 15: Exposure to mass media: women

SOURCE: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table16: Exposure to mass media: men

SOURCE: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 17: Employment status: women

SOURCE: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 18: Employment status: men

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 19: Trends in current fertility rate

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table20: Trends in age specific fertility rate

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 21: Teenage pregnancy and motherhood

source:BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 22: Trends in ever use of family planning method

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 23: Trends in current use of contraceptive methods

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 200

Table 24: knowledge of contraceptive method

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 25: Age at first marriage

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 26: Early childhood mortality rate

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 27: Number of Antenatal care visits and timing of first visit

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 28: Vaccinations by source of information

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

TABLE 29: Employment and cash earnings of currently married women

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

TABLE 30: Control over women’s cash earnings

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

TABLE 31: Women participation in decision-making

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 32: Indicators of women’s empowerment

Source: BANGLADESH DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEALTH SURVEY, 2007

Table 33: Current use of contraception by women’s empowerment

Source: BDHS, 2007

TABLE 34: Reproductive health care by women’s empowerment

Source: BDHS, 2007

Table 35: Type of employment: women

Source: BDHS, 2007

TABLE 36: Knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention method

Source: BDHS, 2007

Table 37: The percentage of women in parliament in SAARC countries

Year Parliament %1975 Bhutanese Legislature 1.31977 Srilankan Parliament 4.71984 Indian Loksova 7.91985 Pakistan National Parliament 8.81986 Nepalese Parliament 5.71986 Maldives People’s Council 4.01986 Jatio Sangsad of Bangladesh 1.3Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union, 1987

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) :

Table 38: Market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time.

% 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006GDP growth

3.1 4.3 2.6 0.5 2.4 4.2 2.7 3.7 3.1 4.8 5.1 5.0

South African Reserve Bank Quarterly Bulletin (QB)(S-148)

Real per capita GDP growth:

It means GDP divided by population

Table 39

% 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006GDP growth

1 2.1 0.5 -1.6 0.2 2.1 0.8 1.9 1.5 3.4 3.7 3.6

Source: South African Reserve Bank Quarterly Bulletin (QB)(S-149)

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI):

It means long-term direct investment by foreigners in the economy.

Table 40

R’ billions

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

GDP growth

-6.737 -0.475 4.280 85.763 12.153 1.275 -3.566 33.854 -47.350

Government Debt:

In its definition, government includes national and provincial spheres. Forward estimates of foreign debt are based on National Treasury’s exchange rate projections.

Table 41: GOVERNMENT DEBT AS a PERCENTAGE OF GDP

% 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006Gov debt

49.1 49.5 48.9 48.0 49.9 46.6 43.9 43.9 38.6 35.3 35.1 33.5

National Treasury Budget Review, 2007, p 93

Expenditure on research and development:

It means amount of private and public funds spent on R & D by a country.

Table 42

% 1993/94 1997/98 2000/02 2003/04 2004/05R & D expenditure

0.75 0.69 0.73 0.81 0.87

Source: Annual Science, Engineering and Technology Institute Survey. Department of

Science and Technology

Electricity:

It means number of households connected to grid electricity. The duration of connection is also significant to one country’s development.

Table 43

% 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

HH with access to electricity

54.1 59.9 62.5 61.2 61.1 69.0 75.9 76.5 74.6 74.7 73.1

National Electricity Regulator of South Africa; Statistics South Africa

Voter participation:

Promotion of high levels of participation of citizens in the democratic electoral process is significant with country’s development.

Table 44: Women participation in parliamentary election

The participation of women in parliamentary indicates a country’s development.

Year Women candidates (%)1991 1.51996 1.92001 2.0 Source: Chowdhury, 1994

Detection and justice: crime

Figure 1: Crossfire by low enforcing agency in Bangladesh, 2009

Source: ASK, 2010

Road accidents and fatalities:

Fatalities refer to road accidents which resulted into death; road accidents refer to motor vehicle crashes in general.

Democratically elected governments in Bangladesh

A formal process by which voters make their political choices on issues or candidates for public office. The present ruling government of Bangladesh is democratically elected government.

Diplomats trained

Training that is offered to potential candidates (Foreign Service officers) and ambassadors who have been appointed to represent government in enhancing and promoting relations with other governments.

Tax register and revenue collection

Strengthen government’s fund to invest in country’s development sector as well as for her people’s well being.

Audits

Promotion of good governance in public institutions.

Budget transparency

Table 45: Open Budget Index 2006

Source: www.openbudgetindex.org

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variability among living organisms (plants and animals) from all sources including terrestrial marine and other aquatic ecosystems and ecological complex of which they are part/surface area.

Table 46: percentage of area protected to maintain biodiversity to surface area

% 1994/95 2000 20035.9 6.1 6.2

Source: Earth Trends, 2003

Recommendations

Aims and objectives need to be well defined- specific aims and objectives can perfectly determine the magnitude of development of prescribed area.

Use multiple indicators and multiple sources- multiple sources of information reduce possible biases that provide a more comprehensive portrait of the development scenario.

Simple indicators can assist analyses of status and trends of single issue and sectors. However in planning for sustainable development, a holistic multi-sectoral perspective is required.

Decision-makers are becoming increasingly aware of the need to address the uncertainties and complexities of sustainable development more realistically. In order

to do this, indicators must reflect the nature of relationships between disparate issues adequately.

Second generation sustainable development indicators are needed to enable adequate assessment of strategic performance towards sustainable development.

The development of such indicators requires the participation of policy- and decision-makers, scientists and the knowledgeable public in a joint initiative that would result in better choices of indicators that capture the inter-linkages between sectors towards achieving national sustainable development targets.

The development and use of indicators to assess progress towards sustainable development requires continual commitment and activities.

A successful regional initiative on SDI would require the involvement of a strong anchor organization that has at its disposal sufficient financial and human resources to initiate and service the indicator initiative in the long-term.

Indicators of sustainable development are needed to guide policies and decisions at all levels of society: village, town, city, and county, state region, nation, continent and world.

The number of indicators should be as small as possible, but not smaller than necessary. That is, the indicator set must be comprehensive and compact, covering all relevant aspects.

The process of finding an indicator set must be participatory to ensure that the set encompasses the visions and values of the community or region for which it is developed.

Indicators must be clearly defined, reproducible, unambiguous, understandable and practical. They must reflect the interests and views of different stakeholders.

Conclusion

It has long been known that the majority of household health expenditure is out of pocket in the private sector, rather than public expenditure. This indicates that demand for health services is high, but also that public services are not able to satisfy the entire demand. Nevertheless, another major influence has been the emergence of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which has highlighted even more strongly the links between poverty, nutrition and some of the specific areas of MDG concern such as maternal health and child health. It also places attention onto the importance of slowing population growth if the poverty alleviation and nutrition MDGs are to be met. It is already stated that Bangladesh is a highly populated country so that to control the fertility is a vital task for positive and better development of the country. The prospects of rapidly reducing population growth looked very promising with the 50 decline in fertility in the 1970s and 1980s, but the 1990s brought a plateau which lasted a decade at a total fertility rate (TFR) of 3.3 children per women. It was difficult to predict if and when fertility would resume its decline. However, there are many factors which can affect fertility: age at marriage, family planning, behavior change communication, family planning service provision, long-acting and permanent methods, and contraceptive supply and so on. Finally I would like to suggest that political stability, political vision, international standard university education, positive action- positive thinking- positive talking to people from politicians are needed to forward country to better development.

References

Dalal-Clayton D.B. MODIFIED EIA AND INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABILITY: FIRST STEPS TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY ANALYSIS, Environmental Planning Issues No. 1, May 1993, IIED, London.

Holmberg, J., Bass, S. & Timberlake, L., DEFENDING THE FUTURE: A Guide to Sustainability Development, IIED/Earth scan, London.

ITTO, REPORT OF THE EXPERT PANEL ON POSSIBLE METHODS OF DEFINING GENERAL CRITERIA FOR AND MEASUREMENT FO SUSTAINABLE TROPICAL FOREEST MANAGEMENT, Doc. No. ITTC (XI)/6,3 Oct, 1991, 11th Session, 28Nov- 4Dec, 1991, Yokohama.

Resnick, M.D., P.S. Bearman, R.W. Blum, K.E. Bauman, K.M. Harris, J. Jones et al., PROTECTING ADOLESCENTS FROM HARM: FINDINGS FROM THE NATIONAL LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH, Journal of the American Medical Association 278: 823-32.

World Bank, MEASURING COUNTRY PERFORMANCE ON HEALTH: selected indicators for 115 countries, Human Development Network, Washington, D.C., 1999.

Dale W. Jorgenson and Barbara M. Fraument, “THE ACCUMULATION OF HUMAN AND NON HUMAN CAPITAL, 1948-1984,” in R.E. Lipsey and H.S. Tice (eds). THE MEASUREMENT OF SAVING, INVESTMENT AND WEALTH (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989); and M.Laroche, M. Merette and G.C. Ruggeri, IN THE CONCEPT AND DIMENSIONS OF HUMAN AND NONHUMAN CAPITAL IN A KNOWLEDGE-BASED ECONOMY CONTEXT (1998).

H. Bossel, Earth at a crossroads: paths to a sustainable future, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

United Nations, Work programme on indicators of sustainable development of the commission of sustainable development, UN-DPCSD, February 1996.

C. Cobb, T. Halstead and J. Rowe, “If the GDP is up, why is America down?” Atlantic Monthly, October 1995, pp. 59-78.

Hartmut Bossel (1999), Indicators for Sustainable Development: Theory, Method, Applications, International Institute for Sustainable Development: Canada.

Bangladesh Bureau fo Statistics (BBS). 2008b. STATISTICAL YEAR BOOK OF BANGLADESH 2006. Dhaka, Bangladesh: BBS.

International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR, B). 1994. Demographic Surveillance System: Early Indicators, Matlab 1993. Dhaka. Bangladesh: ICDDR, B.

Mitra, S.N., C. Leman, and S. Islam. 1993. BANGLADESH CONTRACEPTIVE SURVEY- 1991: FINAL REPORT, Dhaka, Bangladesh: Mitra and Associates.

World Health Organization (WHO). 2006. WORLD HEALTH REPORT 2006- working together for health. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO.

Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey-2007, Dhaka. United Nations, 2008, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2007/2008. United States Census Bureau, 2009, US AND WORLD POPULATION CLOCKS. United Nations Population Division, 2008, WORLD URBANIZATION PROSPECTS

2007. United Nations Population Division, 2007, POPULATION NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2007. United Nations Population Division, 2009, WORLD POPULATION PROSPECTS

THE 2008 REVISION, HIGHLIGHTS. CIA World Fact book, 2009, COUTRY COMPARISONS, TOTAL FERTILITY

RATE.

United Nations Population Division, 2009, WORLD CONTRACEPTIVE USE 2007. United Nations Population Division, 2009, WORLDFERTILITY PATTERNS 2007. United Nations, 2008, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2007/2008. USDA, 2003, INTERNATIONAL EVIDENCE ON FOOD CONSUMPTION

PATTERNS. Naren, 2006, PRIVATISATION RESULTS: PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION

IN WATER SERVICE AFTER 15 YEARS, Development Policy Review, 24, p669-692.

Population Reference Bureau, 2008, WORLD POPULATION DATASHEET. ILO, 2007, UNEMPLOYMENT. CIA World Fact book, 2009. IPCC, 2007, CLIMATE CHANGE 2007: SYNTHESIS REPORT. Stern et al, 2006, STERN REVIEW: THE WCONOMICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE.