In remarks prepared for a workshop on the findings of the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress set up by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Gurría noted that the OECD is well placed to lead international cooperation on harmonising concepts and methodologies.  The OECD World Forum on “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy” to be held in Busan, Korea, on 27-30 October 2009 will provide the next major international opportunity to advance the Commission’s recommendations.

The Commission, which includes five Nobel prize-winning economists – Joseph Stiglitz, Amartya Sen, Kenneth Arrow, James Heckman and Daniel Kahneman – proposes new indicators to measure subjective aspects of social progress such as freedom, security and contentment as well as objective features including economic and ecological resources.

OECD publishes a wide range of statistics related to the measurement of economic performance and social progress. A selection of these are listed.