Major Economic indicators of Nepal

Major Economic indicators of Nepal:

There are different indicators to show the economic situation of a country. These indicators vary according to the resource situation, human development, infrastructural development level, peoples attitudes, beliefs, etc, level of the economy, technology level and many others. Development is a dynamic process and these indicators also change over time as per the development level and increment in parameters to measure the development. Some of the major economic indicators of Nepal are as follows:

Per capita income (PCI):
PCI  in a country indicates economic development. It is the average income per people in a country in a year. Higher PCI shows a higher level of development. The economists like Meier, Paul Baron, Buchanan, and Elis have accepted the increase in PCI as the indicator of economic development. It is calculated as follows:
PCI = National Income/ Total population

Gross national products (GNP):
GNP is the total value of goods and services that are produced in an economy during a certain period of time. According to these criteria, if there is a sustained increase in production of a country over a long period of time, then there is economic development. i.e, when GNP is higher, there is more economic development and vice versa. The economists such as Baldwin, Simon, Kuznets, Meier, etc. have considered GNP as an indicator of Economic development.

Physical quality of life Index (PQLI):
This criterion was developed by Morris D Morris. PQLI consists of three elements: – Life expectancy, Infant Mortality rate, and Literacy rate. The level of these components determines the level of economic development. If people live longer and are literate, PQLI value will be high and it shows economic development. The levels of these three components are ranked from (1 – 100). If its value crosses 50, the country is supposed to be developed and if the value lies below 50, the country is supposed to be developing.

Basic human needs criterion:
This criterion was developed by the World Bank. According to these criteria, the development is evaluated on the basis of fulfillment of the basic needs of people in terms of food, shelter, clothing, health, education, sanitation, security, etc. If these basic needs are available to people then there is economic development and vice versa.

Human development index:
This criterion was developed by UNDP (United Nation Development Programme) in 1990 A.D. This indicator is related to three aspects of human life: – PCI, Literacy rate and Life expectancy. HDI is measured on a scale of 0 to 1. Zero indicates the lowest human development and one indicates the highest human development. Countries are ranked as follows as per the following range of HDI:

(0 – 0.49) - Least Developed
(0.50 – 0.79) - Developing
(0.80 – 1) - Developed