Growth vs. Development

Both economic growth and economic development measure the condition of an economy in a country.

Economic growth relates to increase of the value of goods and services produced by every sector of the economy. This growth is the result of increase of quantity output. It can be measured in nominal terms or real terms.

The nominal growth is when the value of output is not adjusted to the level of inflation - so the prices of goods are taken "straight" from the market. The real economic growth relates to the growth of output, which value is adjusted to the level of inflation. So, in this case, when the nominal economic growth equals 10% and inflation 4%, than the real economic growth is 6%.

Typical indicators of economic growth are Growth Domestic Product (GDP) and Growth National Product (GNP) both in real and nominal terms.

Economic development reflects not only the increase of quantity of goods and services produced by every sector of the economy, but also a positive change in their quality. Economic development relates to the improvement in social as well environmental indicators which reflect the quality of life and wellbeing.

There is no widely accepted one indicator of economic development (World Bank uses more than 2000 measures). Among several broadly accepted proposals, which measure different aspects of economic development are: Human Development Index (HDI), gender- related index (GDI), Human poverty index (HPI), infant mortality, literacy rate.

So, in summary:

Both economic growth and economic development refer to an increase over time in a country's output of goods and services, but the second embraces also an upward movement of the social and environmental indicators. Economic development, better than economic growth, reflects the improve of living standards.