text: the mistake made in many developed countries of ignoring natural resources and environmental concerns until they reached critical dimen­ sions. The expert from Sri Lanka pointed out that because of that country's small size it had long been aware of its finite carrying capacity and had planned accordingly. Deforestation and soil erosion and deple­ tion were serious concerns in several of the countries in the region, yet their compilation of social indicators usually contained no measure of those phenomena. Availability of natural resources, and air, water, and noise pollution were concerns which needed to be monitored more closely. 85. The Group noted that it was becoming more necessary · for indi­ cators to advance beyond measuring the mere availability and use of social services, such as schools, health facilities and even newspapers, and to develop indicators which reflected the quality of those services. The observation that many people passed up schools or clinics nearest to their houses to attend others was an indication of the unequal quality of services provided by the Government. The reading of independent newspapers was considered to be more significant than the reading of papers aligned with a particular political party. 86. The Expert Group discussed the feasibility of employing more subjective indicators. These would measure the preferences of a popula­ tion in order to aid in establishing national goals and priorities. The population's perceptions of the quality of life or of the effect of govern­ ment programmes could alro be monitored. Obtaining valid data for those indicators and the interpretation of responses was inherently more complicated than for the more conventional economic, demo­ graphic and social indicators. Some of the experts felt that those diffi­ culties precluded the usefulness of such indicators, but the majority of· the Group favoured attempting to test and improve subjective indicators. F. CONCLUSIONS 
analysis: The text discusses the importance of considering natural resources and environmental concerns in development, as well as the need for indicators that measure the quality of social services and the population's perceptions of their quality of life. It also touches on the idea of monitoring natural resources, air and water pollution, and noise pollution. These themes suggest that the text is more closely related to the categories of Natural resources and environment, and Health.