Community development is the process through which the efforts of the people themselves are united with those of change agents, with the main aim of transforming the society from an undesirable situation to a desired situation. A desirable situation in this case can be referred to be a situation in which the different people involved get to a better living standard. On the other hand, Economic Development implies progressive changes in the socio-economic structure of a country. It means a process where nations achieve higher standards of living, often through the increase of the real national income and also the per capita income of the individuals in an economy for some period of time. It occurs in a long time period and involves the change of different aspects of the economy. Economic development has many qualitative and quantitative indicators such as economic growth and Human Development Index. In fact, It is important to recognize that economic development and community development are not the same. Community development is a process for making a community a better place to live and work. Economic development is purely and simply the creation of wealth from which many community benefits are created.

There are certain factors which affect community development and economic development. One of these factors is the role the government in the given region plays. The government plays a big role in development of all sectors in an economy including the community. Resource allocation, for instance, is usually controlled by the government in most countries, thus affecting development. Laws are also made by the government and usually changes with time thus, the affecting economic and community development. The government can thus hinder or promote economic and community development. It plays important role to enhance the growth and development through identify the necessary actions, and Overview of the Policy framework, institutional arrangements, program and activities.

Another factor which affects community and economic development is the health of the economy. More often, economies are usually hit by things like recessions. During such times, the main actors in the economy start reducing their expenditure in investment, a very important aspect of economy and community development. The community lacks enough resources for development and the economy also faces resource constraints. The environment, the currency situation, the political stability and also the response of the people towards development issues also has an effect on economic and community development. In fact when an economy is performing at a high level of activity there will be high levels of employment and individuals will have money to spend. So that there will be a high level of standard of living.

The measurement of community and economic development can be achieved through measuring the increase in social income and the living standards of the individuals through Gross Domestic Product. These measures could be Human Development Index, Human Poverty Index, Human freedom Index, happiness, and so on. It can also be measured by comparing the changes in the level of empowerment of the society. Infrastructure, political system, education Levels, health and nutrition, and social networks of the individuals in the society can also be used.

So, in summary, community development is the process of making the community a better place to live and work and occurs primarily in the public sector. Economic development is the process of creating wealth, in which community benefits are created secondarily. To have a vibrant local economy, a community needs both community development and economic development.