For less developed countries to catch up with the more developed ones it is not enough to grow the economy measured by the GDP per capita. First of all, it is typical that in the less developed countries the assembly operations of the large value chains are present, and these operations are low value added ones, offering low paid assembly jobs. Also the repatriated profit can be large, and while it is part of the GDP, it cannot be used for local development. Measuring development in the less developed countries by GDP per capita can be therefore misleading, and decisions are made based on the benefits of growing the GDP. The goal of this paper is to prove that using growth indicators, like GDP per capita, is not sufficient for measuring real progress and convergence. As the presented data prove, growth indicators may look promising while there is small development in terms of human and knowledge capital. Quality indicators like the level of the intangible assets and intangible investment indicators are especially crucial: they are the backbone of future national success and competitiveness. This is important because growth is always past-oriented, it expresses the results of past decisions, while investments in intangibles build the basis for future development. National wealth is introduced in order to explain the difference between the quantity based measurement systems and the qualitative ones. The paper concentrates on analysing the development achievements of the V4 countries in comparison to a few developed EU countries.