No, GNP is not the most reliable indicator of development. A high GNP does not reflect the income of the entire population and the actual distribution of wealth. Furthermore, in certain places, majority of the population do not benefit from the country's economic wealth. Therefore, we cannot judge the development of a country based only on the GNP, but we have to take into consideration other factors as well.

Birth rate is a more reliable indicator of development as compared to GNP. Birth rate indicates the number of babies born per thousand people in the population per year. A high birth rate usually indicates that birth control or family planning is not practiced as the people are not educated. Sometimes, birth rate is also high as the children are required as farm hands or they are needed as child labour to bring in additional Y for the family...