So, imagine you have a toy box full of toys. You want to know which toys are the best and which ones need to be fixed or thrown away. That's sort of like what laeken indicators do, but instead of toys, we're looking at how well European Union countries are doing in things like education, health, and the economy.
Laeken indicators are a set of 27 different measurements that were decided upon by the EU leaders at a meeting in Laeken, Belgium in 2001. These indicators include things like the percentage of people in a country who have a job, the amount of money the country spends on healthcare, and the number of people who finish school.
By measuring these things, the EU leaders hope to get a better idea of how well each country is doing and where they might need to improve. It's sort of like checking how well you're doing at school by looking at your grades in different subjects.
The laeken indicators also help the EU leaders to compare different countries and see what they can learn from each other. For example, if one country has a really good education system, other countries can study it and try to apply some of the same things to their own schools to make them better.
Overall, laeken indicators are a way for the EU leaders to keep track of how well different countries are doing in important areas and to try to help them improve where they need it.