Explain the major indicators of development

This essay seeks to explain the major indicators of development ,development is a a process that
influences growth and restructuring of an economy to enhance the economic well being of a
community. Development indicators are the tools that are used to measure a country well being, these
include the gross national product, gross domestic product,employment rate,life expency,mortality rate
and the percentage of people in tertiary education.However these development indicators have their
own shortfalls if one considers the uncovered items for example the black economy, leisure, human
freedom in the gross domestic product, gross national product does not include the people`s well being
just to mention a few

To begin with the gross national product, is defined as the total money value of all goods and services
produced by its residents in one year. The gross national product includes the money value of total
annual domestic product of a country, plus incomes earned abroad by its residents, minus payments
made to non-residents and foreign institutions.The gross national product can be measured in at least
two different ways, both of which yield the same result. One way of measuring the gross national
product is from the buyer's point of view, or in terms of aggregate demand. Also known as the
expenditure approach to measuring gross national product, this method calculates the value of the gross
national product as the sum of the four components of gross national product expenditures
consumption, investment, government purchases, and net exports. Since every transaction involves a
buyer and a seller, the GNP can also be calculated from the seller's point of view, which focuses on
where money payments go. The method, also known as the income approach, measures GNP as the
sum of all the incomes received by all owners of resources used in production. Such income payments
are known as factor payments, because they are paid to various factors involved in the production of
goods and services. These include employee compensation, rental income, proprietary income,
corporateprofits, interest income and indirect business taxes.The gross national product measures the
value of final products and services, so it is necessary to avoid double-counting the many intermediary
products that are bought and sold in the economy. Products and services are counted as part of the GNP
when they reach their final form.However the gross national product as development indicator have got
its shortfalls since does not include the people`s well being ,since it mainly based on activities and goods
and services that hardly contribute to human well-being in any form. The gross national product is
simply the total amount of money spent on goods and services irrespective whether it increase or
diminish actual well-being. The production of military hardware and lethal weapons in other countries
represents one of the biggest sources of government expenditure but that does not contribute to
human well-being in terms of people’s living standards. This production of military weapons can only
increase the figures of the gross national product not the people`s well being. The money spent on and
the revenue generated from the whole advertisement industry has become colossal although it
publicizes various consumption items to attract customers, by itself, it does not produce any goods for
human consumption. This huge spending on advertisement constitutes a part of gross national product
but, it does not offer any tangible consumption goods, Weaver (1973:104) mentions that, the industrial
economy is based on people wanting more and more material goods. . . advertising plays some part in
this process. there are dozens of over-publicized goods but ineffective products in the market that claim
and fail to address human disorders associated with modern lifestyle, including alcoholism.

Moreso,The gross domestic product is also another development indicator if one consider that the gross
domestic product measure of a country's economic performance and is the market value of all final
goods and services made within the borders of an economic area, such as a country, in a defined period
usually being a year.In the gross national product final products consist of products which do not require
any additional transformation prior to use, and are presumed to be used by end users instantly in that
time period for consumption or investing purposes. Final products are also therefore final energy values
consumed to a certain production, and within that production. It can consist of goods or services, which
can be assigned a monetary value to represent that energy. Therefore total gross domestic product
presents total energy used, valued and measured in monetary terms in a given region for commercial
purposes deducted by imported amount of energy in that certain time interval.The gross domestic
product is simple and effective when measuring commercial productivity and therefore also material
standards of living and consumption in given areas. It is standardized to current gross domestic product,
which is measurement expressed in current prices and of the period being measured, and nominal gross
domestic product, which is the production of final products valued at current prices. Real gross domestic
product has been useful in measuring if production has decreased or increased despite changes in other
variables, since it values production of final products at a constant price level.However the gross
domestic product is also under criticism since it doesn't separate costs from benefits. It simply adds
them together under the heading of economic activity. Gross domestic product is a good measure of
size, but at some point bigger is worse, not better.The gross domestic product also has nothing to say
about how income and wealth are distributed among the people,it does not show that does increasing
gross domestic product indicate progress if the increasing income occurss to a very small number of
people.

Furthermore, Development can be obtained through industrialization,Industrialisation is another form

of development indicator that measures a country’s level of development .Anindustrialised country can
provide goods and services for its people,it can rely on the industrial sector to generate incomes and
also provide jobs for the people.A good example of an industrialized country is Britain,its economy is
stable signifying development.

In addition,Trade is another indicator of development since balance of trade is what measures

development,it is the net difference between the vv