Selelected Alternative Methods of Measuring Economic Development

The traditional economic growth measures based on SNA are not precisely welfare indicators. The economists have tried to construct indicator that include both quality and quantity aspects of economic development. Achieving a balance between three board objectives of sustainable development – maintenance of economic growth, social progress, and protection of environment - the new challenge for statisticians is to develop a package of indicators that can monitor and report progress towards sustainable development. The aim of this article is to present some different and less popular approaches to alternative measurement of welfare. The paper does not determine which indicator describes the level of sustainable development most precisely, but tries to present advantages and defects of each method. In conclusion, the sustainable indicators are more precise than traditional ones in estimating the welfare. The main difficulty in calculating these measures is the requirement of data which cannot be gathered easily.