Indicators of Sustainable Development |
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In addition to the 147 headline and core indicators there are 16 indicators that provide further analysis by looking at relationships between issues and examines whether they have been uncoupled. In particular, the indicators look more closely at the inter-play between economic, social and environment trends.
Between 1970 and 2002, GDP increased by 107 per cent while energy consumption only increased by 11 per cent. In general, energy consumption has risen much more slowly than GDP.
There has been some success in uncoupling energy consumption from carbon dioxide emissions, mainly because of a switch from coal and oil to gas and nuclear power in power stations.
Between 1970 and 2002, domestic energy consumption rose by 30 per cent, roughly in line with the number of households which rose by 34 per cent.
Between 1990 and 2001, household numbers increased by 9 per cent, while household waste increased by 26 per cent and household water use decreased by 8 per cent.
Since 1970, output (Gross Value Added) from the industrial sector has risen by almost 50 per cent, while its energy use, water use, CO2 emissions and NOX emissions have all fallen by between 40 and 55 per cent and its SO2 emissions have fallen by 85 per cent. Employment in the sector fell by about 50 per cent.
Since 1998, the number of employees in the industrial sector has fallen by 14 per cent while output has increased by about 1 per cent.
Between 1978 and 2002, service sector Gross Valued Added increased by 92 per cent while employment increased by 42 per cent.
Since 1998, service sector GVA and employment have experienced increases of 13 per cent and 8 per cent respectively, while energy consumption and CO2 emissions have both decreased by 7 per cent.
Between 1970 and 2002, road traffic increased by 142 per cent and GDP by 107 per cent. Carbon dioxide emissions from road transport had increased by 130 per cent by 2001.
Since 1974, car passenger travel has almost doubled, while the cost of travelling by car has changed relatively little.
The total weight of goods carried by road has changed relatively little since 1970, but freight traffic (tonne kilometres) has risen by 85 per cent and the energy consumed in transporting goods by 144 per cent. This reflects transportation over greater distances, and of bulkier, but less dense goods - offsetting efficiencies such as the use of large articulated vehicles.
Farmland bird populations fell by 50 per cent between 1974 and 1998, while output rose by 23 per cent and fertiliser use by 44 per cent.
Fertiliser use, volume output and employment have fallen since the mid-1990s, while hedgerow loss has been halted and farmland bird populations have shown signs of stabilising.
There has been a steady rise in the proportion of people earning less than average income since the late 1970s. By 2001 about 65 per cent of people fell into this category.
The proportion of people with low incomes (those with less than 40 - 60 per cent of average income) increased markedly during the latter half of the 1980s but has remained roughly constant since 1990. In 2001, 29 per cent of people earned less than 60 per cent of average income, 19 per cent earned less than half of average income, and 9 per cent earned less than 40 per cent of average income.