Measures of Australia's Progress is designed to help Australians address the question, 'Is life in Australia getting better?'. MAP provides a digestible selection of statistical evidence in answer to this question. Australians can use this evidence to form their own view of how our country is progressing.

The range of statistical measures that MAP presents demonstrate change. They are grouped under three broad headings: the society, the economy and the environment.

Within these broad domains, several dimensions are addressed, such as health and work within the social domain, national income within the economic domain, and biodiversity within the environmental domain. Within most of these dimensions, a headline indicator which directly addresses the notion of progress is used to tell a story about the extent of progress within that dimension. Within each dimension there are also contextual measures and these provide context to support the progress indicators. In addition, for some dimensions, information which relates to specific groups of interest, such as men and women, is also included.

This summary publication, Measures of Australia's Progress: Summary Indicators, 2012 (cat. no. 1370.0.55.001), is designed to present a short summary of the headline indicators for each of the main dimensions over the last decade.

The more comprehensive publication, Measures of Australia's Progress (cat .no. 1370.0), was last published in 2010 and provides a much more comprehensive discussion of progress within each dimension, presenting additional progress indicators and contextual information for each. In addition, for some dimensions, information that relates to specific groups of interest, such as older people, men and women, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is included.

ADDITIONAL 'ABOUT MAP' INFORMATION FROM THE LAST FULL MAP PUBLICATION
(Note: These links will take you to Measures of Australia's Progress, 2010)

• Preface
• What is MAP?
• Why did the ABS develop MAP?
• How does MAP differ from other ABS publications?
• What process was undertaken in developing MAP?
• Whose values and preferences are reflected in MAP?
• What is the ABS role in measuring progress?
• What approach did the ABS take in presenting progress data?
• How should the dashboard on the homepage be interpreted?
• How is 'progress' defined in MAP 2010?
• What is a progress indicator?
• What makes a good progress indicator?
• Are the indicators related to one another?
• Will the indicator remain relevant over time?
• What are the limitations of MAP?

• Appendices from MAP 2010