Discuss in detail the following social indicators (Economic and Social Performance Indicators). Economic and social indicators can be used to measure socioeconomic development of the society by having indicators such as GDP, GVA (gross value added), unemployment level, life expectancy, education level, crime and safety, and level of participation in civil society
Discuss in detail the following social indicators (Economic and Social Performance Indicators)
INTRODUCTION
Social indicators also called human development indicators as they promote improvement in the standard of living. 🗸🗸
[Any other relevant definition]
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BODY-MAIN PART
Demographics
- This is the description of the physical population and its composition.
- To get this a census is done regularly to obtain this information. 🗸🗸
Human development Index (HDI)
-  This is a measure of people’s ability to live long and healthy lives, to communicate, 🗸🗸
-  To participate in the community and to have sufficient income to experience a decent lifestyle. 🗸🗸
Human poverty index (HPI)
-  It measures life expectancy is measured by the percentage of newborns not expected to survive to age 40. 🗸🗸
-  Lack of education is measured by the percentage of adults who are ill- educated. 🗸🗸
Health and nutrition
- Life expectancy birth. 🗸🗸
- Infant mortality rate. 🗸🗸
Nutrition indicators
- Daily calorie intake per person. 🗸🗸
- The number of children who go hungry. 🗸🗸
- These measures are important to government as they are supplying healthcare and sometime have to include legislation such as adding vitamin A to basic foodstuffs such as bread. 🗸🗸
Education
- The standard of living of people is directly connected to their education. 🗸🗸
- Educated people are employable and can earn an income and provide for their own wants and needs. 🗸🗸
Two important measures are:
- Secondary enrolment percemtage-how many children that start Grade 1 get to Grade 8 and finish Grade 12. 🗸🗸
- Adult literacy- People over the age of 15 that can read and write. 🗸🗸
- A large percentage of the annual budget is allocated to education. 🗸🗸
Services
- Because of our constitution certain basic services must be supplied by the government. 🗸🗸
- These services have a direct effect on people’s living standards. 🗸🗸
- These basic services differ from rural to urban areas.
- Electricity 🗸🗸
- Refuse disposal🗸🗸
- Water supply🗸🗸
- Sanitation🗸🗸
Housing and urbanisation
- Urbanisation the process by which an increasing proportion of a country’s population is concentrated in its urban areas as a result of natural increase and migration from rural areas. 🗸🗸
- This measures is important as more people come to live in urban areas the greater the demand for housing, services, education, health care etc. 🗸🗸
- Housing the percentage of the population living in a permanent dwelling or house. 🗸🗸
- The government issue housing subsidies to help poor people to own a house South African citizens or permanent residents earning R3 500 or less a month could apply for this subsidy. 🗸🗸
International comparisons
- Figures collected by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and United Nations provide the best data for comparison purpose. 🗸🗸
Other measures used:
- Purchasing power parity (PPP) The number of units of one country’s currency that give the holder the same purchasing power as one unit of another country’s currency. 🗸🗸
- The Big Mac Index, The index is based on the price of the Big Mac around the world as compared to its price in the United States. 🗸🗸
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CONCLUSION
From the above discussion it is clear that social indicators play a significant role in South Africa. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance that we should study their uses in depth.
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