Getting messages across using indicators - A handbook based on experiences from assessing Sustainable Development Indicators - 2014 edition - Products Manuals and Guidelines

Indicator-based assessment methods evaluate the evolution and/or the status of indicators in relation to a desired direction or target. They are meant to communicate main messages conveyed by indicators to both the general public and policy makers. This handbook describes the role of indicator-based assessment in measuring progress toward important European policy targets, and introduces a unifying terminology. Furthermore, it provides a classification of the methods in this field and reviews how the results from the assessment are communicated. The handbook is based on the experience gained on Sustainable Development Indicators in the ESS, but the methods it describes could also be applicable to other areas. It is the result of the work of the Expert Group on Indicator-based Assessment, created in 2010 at the initiative of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office and mandated by the Eurostat Working Group on Sustainable Development Indicators.