Indicators of Sustainable Development

Quality of life counts 2004

Headline indicators summary

The headline indicators show:

• Between 1990 and 2003, GDP grew in real terms by 35 per cent.
• Total investment in real terms grew relative to GDP between 1990 and 1998, and has since remained relatively stable. Social investment (railways, hospitals, schools) was around 2.0 per cent of GDP in 1990, and was 1.7 per cent in 2002.
• In 2003, the percentage of working age people in work was 74.7 per cent, the same level as in 1990.
• In recent years the proportions of the population affected by poverty and social exclusion have been reduced.
• The percentage of 19 year olds with 'level 2' qualifications was 76.1 per cent in 2003 compared with 52.0 per cent in 1990.
• Average life expectancy has increased, but healthy life expectancy has increased more slowly, so an increasing proportion of those extra years are in poor health.
• In 2001, 33 per cent of dwellings were non-decent, compared with 46 per cent in 1996.
• Both the British Crime Survey and recorded crime show reductions in vehicle thefts and domestic burglary over the last decade, whilst recorded robberies have increased - but robberies were lower in 2002-3 than the previous year.
• Emissions of the 'basket' of six greenhouse gases are provisionally estimated to have fallen by 14 to 15 per cent between 1990 and 2002.
• Urban air quality has generally improved significantly since 1993, but in 2003 the hot summer and a number of significant pollution episodes earlier in the year led to an unusually high number of pollution days.
• Road traffic volumes have more than doubled since 1970, but road traffic intensity (vehicle kilometres per GDP) fell by 11 per cent between 1990 and 2003 - which demonstrates some uncoupling of road traffic and economic growth since 1990.
• The biggest improvements in both chemical and biological river quality since 1990 have been in English rivers, bringing more of them up to the standard seen in the rest of the UK.
• Farmland bird populations fell by 42 per cent between 1970 and 2002, and woodland bird populations fell by 15 per cent, though there are now signs that populations are stabilising.
• The percentage of new dwellings built on previously developed land or through conversion of existing buildings increased from 54 per cent in 1990 to 64 per cent in 2002.
• In 2000-1, around 220 million tonnes of controlled waste were produced by households, commerce and industry (including construction and demolition). Just under half was disposed of in landfill sites. Household waste accounts for about one sixth of all controlled waste. The amount not recycled or composted increased from 417 to 454 kilograms per person, or 9 per cent, between1991-2 and 2001-2, even though proportionally more was recycled.