Selecting Indicators

Once the goals of poverty reduction have been set, indicators should be used to monitor progress towards the goals at various stages. Selecting indicators is a political process, which needs to be undertaken in light of existing constraints. In general, it is preferable to select few indicators covering the right questions, of good quality, at the right level of disaggregation.

The  Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide an excellent example of the types of goals, indicators and targets that can be used to monitor progress. The eight MDGs comprise 48 indicators and 18 targets.

Intermediate indicators and final indicators

When an indicator measures a factor that determines an outcome or contributes to the process of achieving a chosen goal, we call it an "intermediate" indicator. These are divided into "input" or "output" indicators, depending on the stage of the process.

• Input indicators measure the financial and physical resources dedicated to a goal.
• Output indicators measure the goods and services that are produced by the inputs. They are typically under the control of the agency that produces them.

When an indicator measures the effect of an intervention on an individual's well-being, we call it a "final" indicator. Sometimes final indicators are divided into "outcome" and "impact" indicators:

• Outcome indicators capture access to, use of, and satisfaction with public services; access to credit; representation in political institutions and so on. These are not dimensions of well-being themselves, but are key elements that contribute towards well-being.
• Impact indicators measure key dimensions of well-being such as freedom from hunger, literacy, good health, empowerment, and security. 

Qualities of good indicators:

• direct, unambiguous measures of progress
• vary across groups, areas and over time
• have a direct link with interventions
• relevant to policy making
• consistent with the decision-making cycle
• not easily manipulated or blown off course by unrelated developments
• easy and not too costly to measure
• easy to understand
• reliable
• consistent with data available and the data collection capacity

Disaggregating indicators

Indicators should be chosen at the appropriate level of disaggregation, depending on the goals that a strategy aims to achieve, on the types of public policies and programs planned to achieve these goals, and on data availability. Indicators can be disaggregated along various dimensions, including geographic areas, demographic groups, income/consumption groups and social groups.

Selected indicators

Please refer to the following links for examples of indicators used in poverty monitoring. (Please note the World Bank is not responsible for the content of external websites.):

• Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicators
• Operation Policies Country Services Logical Framework (OPCS LogFrame) - inlcudes a discussion of performance indicators used in designing monitoring and evaluation of investment operations.
• European Commission's common indicators of poverty and social exclusion - only for countries in the European Union.
• EUROSTAT's Social Cohesion indicators - only for countries in the European Union.
• EdStats database - a collection of education statistics and indicators.
• GenderStats database - a collection of gender statistics and indicators.
• HNPStats database (Health, Nutrition, and Population statistics) - offers country data sheets showing summary indicators of health status, health determinants, and health finance. 
• Empowerment indicators

For a more detailed discussion of indicators read the guidance note and view the presentation, available in multiple languages, in the highlight box to the right. (Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the PDF files.)

Related Sections:

• See Data on Poverty for an extensive guide to poverty indicators.
• See Training Events and Materials for papers and presentations on poverty indicators.

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