Some (often) used indexes on a national level

1. Human Development Index
Developed by the UNDP, published every year. Comprises four sets of data: life expectation at birth, adult literacy rate, combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and tertiary schools and GDP per capita.
HDI covers only a minor part of all aspects of sustainable development.
Conclusion: HDI is very suitable to give a rough idea of the level of development, particularly in developing countries. For developed countries the HDI is less valuable due to the limited information it contains.

2. Environmental Sustainability Index, ESI-2005
Developed by Columbia University and Yale University, USA.
Previous editions in 2001 and 2002.
ESI comprises no less than 76 ‘variables’, which are aggregated into 21 indicators, resulting in 5 categories.
ESI covers the whole range of aspects of sustainable development in its broad context. However, it covers different indicators than the SSI does. For instance, the Gender Related Index is lacking in the ESI and Good Governance gets only minor attention.
Conclusion: ESI supplies a lot of relevant information, but is not very transparent due to the great amount of data.

3. Environmental Performance Index, EPI-2006
Developed by Columbia University and Yale University, USA.
Published in 2006 for the first time in order to present a better insight in the ‘environmental dimension’ of the Millennium Development Goals.
The EPI will be developed further. EPI comprises 6 categories (Environmental Health, Biodiversity and Habitat, Sustainable Energy, Water Resources, Air Quality, Productive Resource Management), derived from 16 indicators.
Conclusion: the EPI – as the name already suggests – only partly covers sustainable development in its broader context.

4. Commitment to Development Index, CDI-2006
Set up by Center for Global Development, an independent, not-for-profit think tank, established in 2001 in the USA.
Publishes the CDI every year since 2003. Reviews for 21 rich countries the level of support given to poor countries to realize prosperity, good governance and security. Is composed of seven components: aid, trade, investment, migration, environment, security and technology.
Conclusion: the CDI covers sustainable development only partly and offers information of no more than 21 countries (of which The Netherlands is on top!).

5. Index for Sustainable Economic Welfare, ISEW
Calculated for over 10 countries now, according to the design of Daly and Cobb (1989).
The idea of the ISEW is to adjust the Gross Domestic Product of a country for costs that are currently not included in the GDP and/or are consciously shifted to the future (costs of environmental pollution, exhaustion of resources, costs of traffic accidents, but also matters like domestic and volunteer labor). Results are expressed in dollars. Comparable to Sustainable National Income.
Conclusion: very valuable as a correction on the GDP. However, it doesn’t offer a clear insight in the level of sustainability of a country, since all elements are expressed in money. It shows clearly we mislead ourselves by taking GDP as a standard. ISEW is available for a limited number of countries only.

6. Ecological Footprint
Developed by Wackernagel and Rees, published every two years by WWF in the Living Planet Report.
Converts everything a person consumes (house, mobility, energy, food, recreation etc.) and what is needed to produce all these items, into the required area on earth, the number of hectares per capita.
Covers only part of sustainability. Highly respected index. There is still quite some discussion about the calculation methodology used, for instance how to convert energy consumption to required acreage.
Conclusion: excellent index to offer people a quick and inspiring idea about the seriousness of present unsustainability: for instance, the level of consumption in The Netherlands requires almost three earths!! Motivates to take action. Not suited to give a good idea of sustainability in its broader sense.

7. Wellbeing of Nations
Set up by Robert Prescott-Allen in 2001. As yet published only once.
Consists of the Human Wellbeing Index and the Ecosystem Wellbeing Index. Both comprise 5 categories, each built upon several indicators. Covers the whole field of sustainable development. The way of presentation hampers its transparency and accessibility.
Conclusion: excellent index, published only once, not very fit for use by the public at large.

8. Millennium Development Indicators
Set up by UN in order to monitor progress of reaching the Millennium Development Goals (1990 – 2015).
Offers a lot of useful information, also for The Netherlands. However, these indicators aim at a different goal than to measure the level of sustainability of a country.
Does not cover the entire concept of a sustainable society.
Conclusion: interesting and valuable, excellent to monitor the effectiveness of policy with respect to MDG’s. Limited usefulness for a good insight in the level of a country’s sustainability.