To What Extent Are the National Income Statistics Such as Gdp and Gnp the Best Indicators to Use When Measuring the Standards of Living of Poor Developing Countries.

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To what extent are the National Income Statistics such as GDP and GNP the best indicators to use when measuring the standards of living of poor developing countries. The standard of living refers to the degree of wealth and material comfort available to a community in certain geographic area. Since it is often the case that wealth brings about an economic growth and therefore, theoretically, a better living standard, some would argue that National Income Statistics such as GDP and GNP are one of the most accurate indicators of the standard of living in developing countries despite the fact that this measure fails to take into account wealth distribution and the economic well-being of the society (e.g. life expectancy, healthcare, literacy rate, sustainability and environmental quality). Hence, it is probably true to say that the National Income Statistics are the best available indicators used to estimate the progress and wealth of the developing countries but itself alone arguably may not be the most suitable indicator to measure the standards of living. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the value of goods and services produced in the territory of a country in a given period of time, whereas Gross National Product (GNP) refers to the value of goods and services produced by citizens of a country, both on its land or on foreign land. Both can be calculated on a per capita basis, which will give an average income each citizen earns. Although the calculation for each method is different, both statistics fundamentally show how wealthy one country is. So, this basically means that the richer a country and its citizens become, the bigger tax revenue the government is going to receive. The government will then be expected to increase the public spending on providing merit goods such as good healthcare service and education, hence the better living condition. The Spanish

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