Key National Indicators

To have a democracy that is performance-oriented and accountable, key national indicators are needed to assess the overall position and progress of a nation. A large and growing amount of dialogue and activity is taking place, throughout the United States and around the world, on key national, state, and local indicators and how to develop them in a manner that is truly useful to a community or society.

In order to advance this dialogue, on February 27, 2003, the U.S. General Accounting Office, in cooperation with the National Academies, hosted a forum on Key National Performance Indicators in Washington D.C. The objective of the Forum was to discuss whether and how to develop a set of key national indicators for the United States.

The materials on this site were assembled in order to both provide background on the subject of national indicators, and to provide support for post-Forum efforts.

Forum Materials links to the executive package which was provided to all participants prior to the Forum and to a "working draft" of a USA indicator set and strategic approach which were presented at the Forum.

Useful Links represent some of the useful web sites that illustrate a variety of indicator systems. This set of links is ever evolving.

Selected Bibliography Version 0.1 includes reports and studies of indicator systems, as well as background materials on indicators. The bibliography is a work in progress.

Post Forum Update provides an executive summary of the latest information on the key national indicators initiative.