Design and validation of an index to measure development in rural areas through stakeholder participation.

This paper proposes the development of an index to assess rural development based on a set of 25 demographic, economic, environmental, and social welfare indicators previously selected through a Delphi approach. Three widely accepted aggregation methods were then tested: a mixed arithmetic/geometric mean without weightings for each indicator; a weighted arithmetic mean using the weights previously generated by the Delphi panel and an aggregation through Principal Component Analysis. These three methodologies were later applied to 9 Portuguese NUTS III regions using the most recent data available (2009–2020) and the results were presented to a group of experts in rural development who indicated which of the aggregation methods best measured the levels of rural development of the different territories. Finally, it was concluded that the unweighted arithmetic/geometric mean was the most accurate methodology for aggregating indicators to create a Rural Development Index. • Development of a rural development index using indicators selected by an expert panel. • Create rural development indexes by applying different aggregation methods. • Testing the most accurate method to aggregate indicators in a rural development index. • An effective tool for both policymakers and managers of rural development programs. • A useful tool to measure the impact of cohesion policy and structural programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]