The usefulness of sustainability indicators

Abstract

Indicators are quantitative information which may be used to explain changes over time, or across subjects (say across countries). In the field of economics, GDP per capita is often used as an indicator of development. The attraction of such indicators is that they can be used to represent complicated phenomena in a format which permits comparison over time, or across countries. In the case of the environment, indicators can be used to assess the extent to which, for example, pollution, is increasing or decreasing over time. Very often, a number of indicators are combined together to produce a composite index.