UN General Assembly
2012

search for multidimensional measures of poverty and development. Since the middle of the last century, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean has developed a methodology based on an index of unmet basic needs. Many countries have applied such composite multidimensional indexes. In the Dominican Republic we use a quality of life index tailored to our reality. The United Nations Development Programme has applied the human development index, and a number of other indexes have been proposed at the international level. Despite that, the majority of bodies in the international financial system continue to rely on one-dimensional measures that focus on monetary income to assess and categorize the development of our countries and to determine their policies on the basis of criteria for international financial support. We wish to avail ourselves of this opportunity to urge international financial organizations to be more ready and willing to embrace our efforts to break the vicious cycle of poverty and social exclusion as the basis for development. We need to use enhanced indicators with a greater capacity to capture and