text: to ant1c1pate trends which could lead to a diminution of individual well-being. 109. It was the consensus of the Group that the development of social indicators and their use in the entire planning process improved the planning system, the establishment of priorities for goals and objectives, policy and strategy fonnulation, and consequently the identification, monitoring and evaluation of programme and projects. I 10. Status assessment. At the assessment stage prior to goal-setting, indicators were needed to appraise the past trends and existing state of population welfare in order to reflect the dimensions of problems being faced by society and establish goals and objectives which might be converted into numerical tenns or targets. 111. It was generally agreed that a set of social indicators should cover a range of social concerns in order to provide a picture of the - quality of life of a population or the level of welfare which it enjoyed. The summation of a number of statistics into a composite index of the quality of life had not yet been demonstrated to be effective and was of little value to policy-makers. I I 2. Setting goals and priorities. The setting. of goals and priorities depended upon the dimensions of the problems being faced by society as reflected by social indicators. Some problems and goals were diffi~ult to quantify, yet they were clearly important. Technicians must believe that social progress was scientifically measurable regardless of how abstract the condition to be monitored might, at first sight, appear to be. The process of measurement might be more or less difficult or expensive, depending on circumstances, and was not worth the effort if the social concern was trivial. The strongest efforts toward conceptua- 27 lization and measurement should be reseived for the highest priority social objectives. 
analysis: The text discusses the use of social indicators to measure and evaluate the well-being of a population, with a focus on identifying problems, setting goals, and prioritizing objectives. The indicators are used to assess the quality of life and level of welfare, and to inform policy-making. The text does not explicitly mention any specific economic or environmental issues, but rather focuses on the broader concept of social welfare.