OVERVIEW OF MAP
MAP presents a broad assessment of national progress, providing holistic measures that go beyond the traditional economic measure of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). MAP is designed to help Australians address the question, 'Is life in Australia getting better?' and provides a selection of indicators to show whether progress is being made across social, economic and environmental areas of life. The ABS acknowledges that progress is multidimensional and therefore, does not seek to summarise whether Australia is, on balance, progressing or not, or at what rate. Instead, the ABS presents information in such a way that readers can consider the relative importance of progress in each dimension and bring their own personal evaluations to these questions. In this way, the ABS seeks to present complex information about all topics in an easily interpretable way, and to avoid the potential oversimplification involved in presenting a single progress indicator.
Since its first release in 2002, MAP has presented progress indicators under the three broad headings of Society, Economy and Environment. Within these areas, important aspects, such as health, work, income, and biodiversity are addressed. In 2013, the MAP structure will be expanded to reflect ‘Aspirations for our Nation’. Major changes include the addition of a fourth domain called ‘Governance’ and an expanded set of headline progress indicators to provide readers with an ‘at a glance’ view of Australia’s progress in key areas.
Oversight, advice and broad direction for MAP has been provided by an Expert Reference Group (ERG). The group, chaired by the Australian Statistician, comprises experts who are independent and representative of government, community, business and research sectors at a national level (see Appendix A for the ERG membership list).
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