Natural Indicators, quantitative or qualitative characteristics of the product in natural units, physical or conventional: units, metres (linear, square, cubic), tonnes, kilogrammes; complex or aggregated units (engines are planned in units, horse power, thousand kilowatt/hours); conventional units of measure (mineral fertilisers are measured in conventional units, railway cars—in conventional double-axle cars, synthetic detergents and soap—in terms of a 40 per cent fatty acid content). The improvement of the economic mechanism in the USSR presupposes the setting, in the five-year plans for economic and social development, for industrial ministries, associations and enterprises the output targets for the main kinds of product in natural terms, including for export. The annual plans of associations and enterprises set output targets in natural terms for a fuller range of products than does the five-year plan. Natural indicators provide the basis for planning the production of industrial output so as to ensure balanced production and consumption and satisfaction of society’s demand for means of production and consumer goods. Natural indicators are the basis on which the volume of output in value terms is determined. Today in the USSR plan fulfilment is assessed in value terms— by the volume of realised output, due account being taken of the fulfilment of the plans for deliveries to consumers in natural terms and the product range, in accordance with the concluded economic agreements. When the volume of output in value terms (when agreements are not fulfilled) exceeds the natural-material volume, it is not included in plan fulfilment, so natural indicators control the dynamics of the volume of output in value terms with respect to the interests of all society and individual consumers. When the state production plans in natural indicators are drawn up, the following are included: the products that determine the main trends, rates and proportions in the development of the economy; the most important consumer goods, determining the standard of living; output resulting from scientific- and technical progress; defenceintended output, and export output. At the level of the ministries and departments of the USSR and Union Republics, the plans include: output within the range envisaged by the national economic plan; output for covering country-wide needs, inter-branch and inter-Republican deliveries; and also other kinds of output planned at the corresponding level.