This edition of Trends in Europe and North America - The Statistical Yearbook of the Economic Commission for Europe is the fifth compilation of basic socio-economic statistics for the member countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). The decision that a book of this kind should be published by the ECE was taken by the Plenary Session of the Conference of European Statisticians in June 1994. The first edition came out in late 1995, and since then an issue has been published every second year.v

“Trends” is not a yearbook in the usual sense. It is intended to be of very general interest and is aimed at a wide audience of users of international statistics who are not necessarily familiar with statistical terminology or with interpreting statistical tables. The ECE receives many data requests from government officials, business people, journalists, students and the general public, a large number of which can be satisfied by the data compiled for “Trends”.

The first part of the book presents economic and social “profiles”, in statistics, of all 55 member countries of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. The data for these profiles are for the most recent year available, usually 2001.

The second part, with its 13 chapters, paints a broad picture of recent social and economic life in countries of the region. Time series are often presented to illustrate patterns of change. The information for the second part has been obtained from the national statistical agencies of the countries concerned and from other UN agencies or international or supra-national organizations, which are data collectors and have expertise in a given field. The sources of the data are given below each table and chart together with specific table notes.

The publication “Trends” is also available on this website (http://www.unece.org/stats/trend). The first part –country profiles, is accessible for everybody. In order to obtain access to the second part – the country comparison tables, please register. As we would like to know who are using our data and how, you will be asked to fill in a short questionnaire. After sending the completed questionnaire, you will be given a user name and password to access the full version of the publication. There is no access fee.

Readers should be aware that cross-country comparability is not always perfect and that the original sources with their more detailed statistics and descriptions of technical notes should be consulted to avoid dubious conclusions. Every effort has been made to harmonize the definitions and ensure international comparability. Exceptions to the definitions provided in the Glossary are given in the footnotes. To assist readers in looking for further data, a list of Internet addresses is provided at the end of the publication. Although increasing efforts are deployed to ensure data consistency between ”Trends” and the World Statistics Pocketbook of the UN Statistics Division, some slight inconsistencies in the data are unavoidable because of the continuous update of the underlying databases and different publication dates. Moreover, whenever internationally standardized series are used for showing trends, minor deviations from national data are to be expected.

Any comments on the data or contents of the fifth edition would be very welcome and should be addressed to the Director, Statistical Division, Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva.

Brigita Schmögnerová
UNECE Executive Secretary

The editors would like to acknowledge the invaluable help, in compiling this book, of the national statistical offices of the ECE member countries and many of our colleagues in the Council of Europe, EUROSTAT, ILO, ITU, OECD, UNESCO, UNSD, WHO, WTO and others for their contributions.

All of the work undertaken on the book within the UNECE Statistical Division was done on a part-time basis and with much enthusiasm by the following people who at different times participated in the team in addition to the editors: Marie Sicat, Doris Hofstetter, Ilja Kavonius, Marjut Valikangas, Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir, Olga Otradnova, Tauno Kangur. Yves Clopt is responsible for the cover design and the layout. The Editors would like to thank also many other colleagues from the UNECE Statistical Division and other divisions who provided valuable help and advice.

The designations employed and the presentation of the material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.