Key Indicators in Canada - ARCHIVED

In recent years there has been considerable international interest in key indicators. This paper surveys recent Canadian attempts to develop key indicators of economic, social, environmental or physical well-being. It classifies and discusses over forty such projects and publications in detail; briefly lists a further twenty projects; and provides references to a number of up-to-date surveys and annotated bibliographies which contain additional examples of indicator development in Canada. The paper provides information on a number of research centres working on indicator development and discusses international indicators which are relevant to the Canadian scene, either because they represent 'rototypes' of some particular kind of measure, or else might be regarded as constituting 'best practice' in an area. The paper also examines the motivations behind indicator development and seeks to address the question of whether efforts to extend measurement outside the economic field constitute attempts to "measure the unmeasurable".