Country profiles

Chapter 1: Population

Chapter 2: Families and households

Chapter 3: Education

Chapter 4: Employment

Chapter 5: Economy

Chapter 6: Health

Chapter 7: Housing

Chapter 8: Transport and tourism

Chapter 9: Energy

Chapter 10: Environment

Chapter 11: Communication

Chapter 12: Participation

Chapter 13: Crime and safety

Area: Area comprises land area and inland water.

CO2 emissions: Represents the total emission from fuel combustion. CO2, the carbon dioxide, is the principal greenhouse gas. It is measured on the basis of the amounts of fuels burned. A number of developed countries have taken an obligation under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce their emissions of six greenhouse gases, including CO2, below the levels of 1990 emissions. (For more detail, see Chapter 10).

Consumer price index: Measures changes over time in the general level of prices of goods and services that a reference population acquires or purchases for consumption. A consumer price index is estimated as the change in the prices of a fixed representative basket of consumer goods and services purchased by the reference population.

Divorce: A final legal dissolution of a marriage, that is, the separation of husband and wife which confers on the parties the right to remarriage under civil, religious and/or other provisions, according to the laws of each country. The crude divorce rate is the total number of divorces divided by the total population in a given period.

Economic activity rate: The ratio of the economically active population (employed + unemployed) aged 15 and over to the total population of the corresponding age group.

Economic branch (sector): Using the International Standard Industry Classification (ISIC Rev3 1990), at the highest level the economy is divided into three branches: 1) agriculture covers agriculture, forestry and fishing (categories A+B); 2) industry comprises the production industries (including electricity, gas, and water), mining and quarrying, and construction (categories C-F); and 3) services comprise market services and non-market services (categories G-Q, X).

Employment: Here the National Accounts definition is used: employment comprises employees and self-employed - engaged in some productive activity that falls within the production boundary. It includes both the residents and the non-residents who work for resident producer units. (See also Chapter 4).

Energy use: the final consumption of energy by the different end-use sectors, i.e. consumption by the industrial and transport sectors and by the services, agriculture and residential sectors. The graph shows data on the final consumption of energy in tonnes of oil equivalent per capita, and in kilograms of oil equivalent per 1000 US dollars of GDP (PPP dollars, constant prices). The kilogram of oil equivalent is defined as 10⁴ kilocalories. This quantity of energy is, within a few percent, equal to the net heat content of 1 tonne of crude oil.

Exchange rate: Period average exchange rate expressed in national currency units per U.S. dollar. Depending on the country, the exchange rates are market rates, i.e. largely determined by market forces, or official rates, i.e. determined by authorities.

Exports of goods and services: Exports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, or gifts or grants, of goods and services from residents to non-residents. When exports of both goods and services are not available, the data are given for the exports of goods only, f.o.b. (free on board, i.e. including the value of the goods and the related distributive services up to the point of frontier).

External trade balance, or net trade: The value of exports of goods and services less imports of goods and services.

External trade commodities: The data are from the Commodity Trade Statistics Database (COMTRADE). Data are based on a detailed commodity classification according to the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (Harmonized System, or HS), or extended versions based on HS, such as the Combined Nomenclature used by the countries that are members of the European Union.

Gross capital formation: The total value of the gross fixed capital formation, changes in inventories and acquisitions less disposals of valuables. For more detail, see Chapter 5.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP, value added): The principal measure of total economic activity occurring within a country's geographical boundary. As an aggregate measure of production, the GDP of a country is equal to the sum of the gross value added of all resident institutional units engaged in production of goods and services (plus taxes and minus subsidies). Gross value added is the value of output minus intermediate inputs (that is, the value of goods and services consumed as inputs by process of production, excluding fixed assets which contribute to gross value added).

GDP in agriculture, industry, services: Measures the value added in different economic branches. When the value added data were not available, the gross industrial output is used instead. Agriculture covers agriculture, forestry and fishing; Industry comprises the production industries (including electricity, gas, and water), mining and quarrying and construction; Services comprise market services and non-market services.

Gross industrial output: Refers to the value of output produced by establishments engaged in mining (including oil extraction), manufacturing, and production of electricity, gas and water. These are the tabulations categories C, D and E of the Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC Rev. 3 and NACE Rev. 1)

Gross National Income (GNI) – see Chapter 5.

Healthy life expectancy: Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy is based on life expectancy at birth, but includes an adjustment for time spent in poor health. It is most easily understood as the equivalent number of years in full health that a newborn can expect to live based on current rates of ill-health and mortality.

Household: A private household that consists of a person living alone or a group of people who combine to occupy the whole or part of a housing unit and to provide themselves with food and possibly other essentials for living. The group may be composed of related persons only or of unrelated persons or of a combination of both. The group may also pool their income.

Imports of goods and services: Imports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, or gifts or grants, of goods and services from non-residents to residents. When imports of both goods and services are not available, the data are given for the imports of goods only, c.i.f. (the cost, insurance and freight – the price of a good delivered at the frontier of an importing country, or the price of a service delivered to a resident, before the payment of any duties or taxes on imports).

Infant mortality rate: The annual number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1 000 live births in the same year.

Internet users, estimated number: The estimates are based on reported Internet access provider subscriber counts, or calculated by multiplying the number of hosts by an estimated multiplier.

Labour Force, or currently active population: comprises all persons of either sex who furnish the supply of labour (employed + unemployed) for the production of goods and services during the specified time-reference period. Labour force is measured in relation to a short reference period such as one day or one week.

Life expectancy at birth: The average number of years a new-born infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of birth were to continue throughout the child’s life.

Marriage: The act, ceremony or process by which the legal relationship of husband and wife is constituted. The crude marriage rate is the total number of marriages divided by the total population in a given period.

Mobile cellular telephone subscribers: Users of portable telephones subscribing to an automatic public mobile telephone service using cellular technology that provides access to the PSTN (public switched telephone network).

Parliament: Legislative or deliberative assembly. One or more chambers or assemblies that form (or form part of) the legislature of a country. The term may also be applied to multinational legislative bodies.

Passenger car: A road motor vehicle, other than a motor cycle, intended for the carriage of passengers and designed to seat no more than nine persons (including the driver).

Population mid-year: Estimate of de facto population for 1 July of the year indicated.

Private consumption expenditure: The final consumption expenditure of households and non-profit institutions servicing households (NPISHs). It is measured by the value of households’ and NPISHs’ expenditures on goods and services including expenditures on non-market goods or services sold at prices that are economically significant.

Purchasing power parities (PPPs): purchasing power of a country’s currency, i.e. the rate of currency exchange that equalises the cost of a fixed representative basket of goods and services in the home country using national currency and in the reference country (the United States) using the US dollar converted at the PPP rate (the number of units of national currency required to purchase the same representative basket of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the United States). It can be recommended to use the PPPs instead of the exchange rate in economic comparisons to take into account the price level differences between countries. PPPs are expressed in national currency units per US dollar.

Real GDP: GDP at constant (fixed) prices measures the volume of output from domestic production. It is used to show the growth in a country’s economy. (For more detail, see Chapter 5).

Student: person attending tertiary education.

Total fertility rate: The average number of children that would be born alive to a woman during her lifetime if she were to pass through her childbearing years conforming to the age-specific fertility rates of a given year.

Total expenditure on education includes public and private expenditure measured as a percentage of GDP. Educational expenditure refers to the financial disbursements of education institutions for the purchase of the various resources or inputs of the schooling process such as administrators, teachers, materials, equipment and facilities. Public expenditure refers to the spending of public authorities at all levels. Private expenditure refers to expenditure funded by private sources, i.e. households and other private entities. Households means students and their families. Other private entities include business firms and non-profit organisations. Private expenditure comprises school fees, materials such as textbooks and teaching equipment; transport to school (if organised by the school); meals (if provided by the school) and boarding fees.

Total expenditure on health includes public and private expenditure measured as a percentage of GDP. Health expenditure refers to household health expenses; government supplied health services including those in schools, prisons, and armed forces and special public health programmes such as vaccination; investment in clinics, laboratories etc; administration costs; research and development excluding outlays by pharmaceutical firms; industrial medicine; and outlays of voluntary and benevolent institutions.

Tourism receipts: correspond to the expenditure of non-resident visitors (tourists and same-day visitors) within the economic territory of the country of reference.

Unemployment rate: Calculated by relating the number of workers who are unemployed during the reference period to the total of employed and unemployed persons at the same date. The unemployed comprise all persons above a specific age who during the reference period were: (a) without work - i.e. were not in paid employment or self-employment; and (b) currently available for work - i.e. were available for paid employment. Unless otherwise stated, all data on unemployment are from Labour Force Surveys. Registered unemployment comprises unemployed population registered at Employment or Labour Offices. This administrative approach to unemployment reflects national rules and conditions and usually yields different results from those of surveys using the ILO concept of unemployment, which includes persons often not covered in registered unemployment statistics, such as persons seeking work for the first time.

Urban areas: are defined as localities with a population of 2000 or more. National definitions may vary.

Youth unemployment: refers to 15-24 years of age.

Area: Area comprises land area and inland water.

Asylum-seekers: persons whose application for asylum is pending in the asylum procedure or who are otherwise registered as asylum-seekers.

Crude birth rate: Number of live births in a given period, per 1 000 population.

Crude death rate: Number of deaths in a given period, per 1 000 population.

Dependency ratio: ratio of the population in the age groups 0-14 years and 65 years and over, to the population in the age group 15-64 years.

Internally displaced persons: Persons displaced internally within their country for reasons that would make them of concern to UNHCR if they were outside their country of origin and who have become of concern to UNHCR as a result of a request from the Secretary-General or the competent principal organs of the United Nations.

Locality: A locality is defined as a distinct population cluster, i.e. the population living in neighbouring buildings which either (a) form a continuous built-up area with a clearly recognizable street formation, (b) though not part of such a built-up area, form a group to which a locally recognized place name is uniquely attached, or (c) though not coming within either of the above two requirements constitute a group, none of which is separated from the nearest neighbour by more than 200 metres. National definitions may vary.

Median age: The midpoint of the population age distribution where half of the population is below and half is above.

Mid-year population: Estimate of de facto population for 1 July of the year indicated.

Net migration rate: The difference between the number of immigrants entering the country and emigrants leaving the country in a year, per 1000 population.

Population of concern to the UNHCR: Refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons, asylum seekers and others who are in a refugee-like situation but not formally recognized as refugees.

Recognized asylum seekers: Refers to refugees granted convention, humanitarian and comparable status.

Refugees: Persons recognized to be outside their country of nationality or habitual residence for reasons that include: a) being recognized as refugees by Governments having ratified the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and/or its 1967 Protocol; b) being recognized as refugees under the 1969 Organization of African Unity (OAU) convention governing the specific aspects of refugee problems in Africa and those recognized in accordance with the principles enshrined in the Cartagena Declaration; c) being recognized by UNHCR as refugees in accordance with its Statute; and d) persons, particularly in Europe, who have been granted temporary protection on a group basis.

Rural areas: are defined as localities (see localities) with a population of less than 2000 and sparsely populated areas. National definitions may vary.

Urban areas: are defined as localities (see localities) with a population of 2000 or more. National definitions may vary.

Urban agglomerations: Refers to the population contained within the contours of a contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels without regard to administrative boundaries.

Abortion: Includes all legally and illegally induced early foetal deaths. Excludes spontaneous abortions (miscarriages).

Divorce: is a final legal dissolution of a marriage, that is, the separation of husband and wife which confers on the parties the right to remarriage under civil, religious and/or other provisions, according to the laws of each country.

Families: are defined in the narrow sense of a family nucleus consisting of a couple without children, a couple with one or more children or a lone parent with one or more children.

Household: A private household that consists of a person living alone or a group of people who combine to occupy the whole or part of a housing unit and to provide themselves with food and possibly other essentials for living. The group may be composed of related persons only or of unrelated persons or of a combination of both. The group may also pool their income.

Legal abortion: Induced expulsion of the foetus during the first part of a pregnancy, permitted by the law for health or other reasons.

Live birth: The complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which after such separation breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached; each product of such a birth is considered live-born, regardless of gestation age.

Marital status: The marital status is defined as the legal conjugal status of each individual in relation to the marriage laws (or customs) in the country (de jure status). The following marital statuses are used: Single (i.e. never married), married, divorced and not remarried, widowed and not remarried.

Mean age at first marriage: The mean age at first marriage is the weighted average of the specific rates of first marriage.

Mean age of women at the birth of the first child: is the weighted average of the age specific rates of first order births.

Total fertility rate: The average number of children that would be born alive to a woman during her lifetime if she were to pass through her childbearing years conforming to the age-specific fertility rates of a given year.

A gross enrolment ratio for a given level of education is derived by dividing the total enrolment for this level, regardless of age, by the population of the age group which, according to national regulations, should be enrolled at this level. Note that the gross enrolment ratio can be higher than 100% as a result of grade repetition and entry at younger and older ages than the typical grade-level age.

Educational attainment: Percentage of the adult population (25 years old and over) that has completed a certain level of education defined according to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 1976) system.

Expenditure on higher education per student: includes the expenditures of educational institutions and households and other private entities. 'Households' mean students and their families. 'Other private entities' include private business firms and non-profit organisations, including religious organisations, charitable organisations and business and labour associations.

Expenditure on Research and Development (R&D): Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) is total expenditure on R&D performed on the national territory during a given period. It includes R&D performed within a country and funded from abroad but excludes payments made abroad for R&D. The sources of funds for GERD are classified according to the following five categories: Business enterprise funds, government funds, higher education funds, private non-profit funds, funds from abroad.

Fields of study:

1. Agriculture: Agriculture, crop and livestock production, agronomy, animal husbandry, horticulture and gardening, forestry and forest product techniques, natural parks, wildlife, fisheries, fishery science and technology; veterinary medicine, veterinary assisting.

2. Education: Includes teacher training for pre-school, kindergarten, elementary school, vocational, practical, non-vocational subject, adult education, teacher trainers and for handicapped children. General and specialized teacher training programmes. Education science: curriculum development in non-vocational and vocational subjects. Educational assessment, testing and measurement, educational research, other education science.

3. Engineering, manufacturing and construction: Engineering drawing, mechanics, metal work, electricity, electronics, telecommunications, energy and chemical engineering, vehicle maintenance, surveying; Food and drink processing, textiles, clothes, footwear, leather, materials (wood, paper, plastic, glass, etc.), mining and extraction; Architecture and town planning: structural architecture, landscape architecture, community planning, cartography; Building, construction; Civil engineering.

4. Humanities and arts: Includes fine arts: drawing, painting, sculpture; Performing arts: music, drama, dance, circus; Graphic and audio-visual arts: photography, cinematography, music production, radio and TV production, printing and publishing; Design; Craft skills; Religion and theology; Foreign languages and cultures: living or ‘dead’ languages and their literature, area studies; Native languages: current or vernacular language and its literature; Other humanities: interpretation and translation, linguistics, comparative literature, history, archaeology, philosophy, ethics.

5. Medicine, health and welfare: Medicine: anatomy, epidemiology, cytology, physiology, immunology and immunoaematology, pathology, anaesthesiology, paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology, internal medicine, surgery, neurology, psychiatry, radiology, ophthalmology; Medical services: public health services, hygiene, pharmacy, pharmacology, therapeutics, rehabilitation, prosthetics, optometry, nutrition; Nursing: basic nursing, midwifery; Dental services: dental assisting, dental hygienist, dental laboratory technician, odontology; Social care: care of the disabled, child care, youth services, gerontological services; Social work: counselling, welfare n.e.c.

6. Science: Biology, botany, bacteriology, toxicology, microbiology, zoology, entomology, ornithology, genetics, biochemistry, biophysics, other allied sciences, excluding clinical and veterinary sciences; Astronomy and space sciences, physics, chemistry, other allied subjects, geology, geophysics, mineralogy, physical anthropology, physical geography and other geosciences, meteorology and other atmospheric sciences including climatic research, marine science, vulcanology, palaeoecology. Mathematics, operations research, numerical analysis, actuarial science, statistics and other allied fields. Computer sciences: system design, computer programming, data processing, networks, operating systems - software development only (hardware development should be classified with the engineering fields).

7. Services: Hotel and catering, travel and tourism, sports and leisure, hairdressing, beauty treatment and other personal services: cleaning, laundry, dry-cleaning, cosmetic services, domestic science; Seamanship, ship's officer, nautical science, air crew, air traffic control, railway operations, road motor vehicle operations, postal service; Environmental conservation, control and protection, air and water pollution control, labour protection and security; Protection of property and persons: police work and related law enforcement, criminology, fire-protection and fire fighting, civil security; Military.

8. Social Sciences, business and law: Economics, economic history, political science, sociology, demography, anthropology (except physical anthropology), ethnology, futurology, psychology, geography (except physical geography), peace and conflict studies, human rights; Journalism; library technician and science; technicians in museums and similar repositories; Documentation techniques; Archival sciences; Retailing, marketing, sales, public relations, real estate; Finance, banking, insurance, investment analysis; Accounting, auditing, bookkeeping; Management, public administration, institutional administration, personnel administration; Secretarial and office work. Local magistrates, ‘notaires’, law, jurisprudence, history of law.

Graduates: Graduates are those who were enrolled in the final year of a level of education and completed it successfully during the reference year. At the university level there can be exceptions where graduation is recognised by the awarding of a certificate without the requirement that the participants are enrolled. Definition of completion and success may vary in each country.

Illiteracy: Adult illiteracy is defined as percentage of the population aged 15 years and over who cannot both read and write with understanding a short simple statement of his/her everyday life.

ISCED(1976): International Standard Classification of Education as defined in 1976.

Pre-primary education: (Level 0). Education provided to children not old enough to enter school at the first level (e.g. nursery school or kindergarten).

Primary education: (Level 1). Designed to provide the basic elements of education. Entry to this level often coincides with the start of compulsory education (varying between ages 5 to 7).

Secondary education: (Levels 2 and 3).: Education provided in middle schools, secondary schools, high schools, lyceums, gymnasiums etc. Level 2: The duration of lower secondary education is generally 3-4 years and its completion often coincides with the end of compulsory schooling. The second stage (Level 3) usually constitutes the final 2-4 years of secondary education.

Tertiary education (Levels 5, 6 and 7). Level 5 - education leading to an award not equivalent to a first university degree. Level 6 - education leading to a first university degree or equivalent. Level 7 - education leading to a post-graduate university degree or equivalent.

ISCED (1997): Latest revision of ISCED definitions.

Pre-primary education (Level 0): Defined as the initial stage of organized instruction, level 0 programmes are designed primarily to introduce very young children to a school type environment.

Primary education (Level 1): Primary education or first stage of basic education. Normally designed to give students a sound basic education in reading, writing and mathematics along with an elementary understanding of other subjects.

Secondary education (Levels 2 and 3): Level 2: Lower secondary or second stage education or basic education is designed to complete the provision of basic education which begins at ISCED level 1. Level 3: (Upper) Secondary education. Typically begins at the end of full-time compulsory education, for those countries that have a system of compulsory education.

Post-secondary non-tertiary education (Level 4): Captures programmes that straddle the boundary between upper-secondary and post secondary education from an international point of view, even though they might clearly be considered as upper-secondary or post-secondary programmes in a national context.

Tertiary education (Levels 5 and 6): Level 5 – First stage of tertiary education. Consisting of tertiary programmes having an educational content more advanced than those offered at levels 3 and 4. Level 5A programmes are tertiary programmes that are largely theoretically based and are intended to provide sufficient qualifications for gaining entry into advanced research programmes and professions with high skill requirements, whereas level 5B qualifications are typically shorter and focus on occupationally specific skills geared for entry into the labour market. Level 6: Second stage of tertiary education (leading to an advanced research qualification.) Reserved for tertiary programmes which lead to the award of an advanced research qualification.

Pupil teacher ratio: This is the number of pupils divided by the number of teachers. Some countries have converted the numbers of part-time teaching staff into full time equivalents. However this is not the case in all countries and therefore this data must be treated with caution, as numbers of part-time teaching staff vary greatly between countries.

Researchers: are professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new knowledge, products, processes, methods and systems, and in the planning and management of R&D projects. Post-graduate students engaged in R&D are considered as researchers.

Total expenditure on education: Includes public and private expenditure measured as a percentage of GDP. Educational expenditure refers to the financial disbursements of education institutions for the purchase of the various resources or inputs of the schooling process such as administrators, teachers, materials, equipment and facilities. Public expenditure refers to all expenditure on education by the central or federal government, state governments, provincial or regional administrations and expenditure by municipal and other local authorities. It should include those incurred by all concerned ministries and levels of administration. Private expenditure refers to expenditure funded by private sources, i.e. households and other private entities. Households mean students and their families. Other private entities include business firms and non-profit organisations. Private expenditure comprises school fees, materials such as textbooks and teaching equipment; transport to school (if organised by the school); meals (if provided by the school) and boarding fees.

Activity rate: Activity rate is the ratio of the economically active population (employed + unemployed) aged 15 and over to the total population of the corresponding age group.

Average annual hours of work: Average annual hours of work are obtained by dividing the total number of hours actually worked by the annual average number of persons in employment or annual average number of jobs.

Economically active population: This comprises all persons of either sex who furnish the supply of labour (employed + unemployed) for the production of goods and services during the specified time-reference period.

Usually active population: is measured in relation to a long reference period such as a year.

Currently active population or Labour force: is measured in relation to a short reference period such as one day or one week.

Economic sector: See Chapter 5.

Educational attainment: See chapter 3.

Employment (the definition used in the Labour Force Survey): The "employed" comprise all persons above a specified age who during a specified brief period, either one week or one day of the month, were in the following categories: (a) "paid employment": (a1) "at work": persons who during the reference period performed some work for wage or salary, in cash or in kind; (a2) "with a job but not at work": persons who, having already worked in their present job, were temporarily not at work during the reference period and had a formal attachment to their job. (b) "self-employment": (b1) "at work": persons who during the reference period performed some work for profit or family gain, in cash or in kind; (b2) "with an enterprise but not at work": persons with an enterprise, which may be a business enterprise, a farm or a service undertaking, who were temporarily not at work during the reference period for any specific reason. This definition is generally used in labour force statistics.

Employment (the definition used in National Accounts): employees and self-employed - engaged in some productive activity that falls within the production boundary. It includes both the residents and the non-residents who work for resident producer units. Contrary to concepts generally used in labour force statistics (LFS), which are on a national basis, the concepts of the System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA 93 or the European System of Accounts 95 ESA 95) are on a domestic basis. The SNA especially provides for the following items to be shown separately: a) the conscripted forces (not included in employment according to LFS, are included in the SNA); b) residents working for non-resident producer units (included in LFS, are excluded in the SNA); c) non-residents working with resident producer units (not included in LFS, are included in the SNA); d) resident workers living permanently in an institution; e) resident workers under the age considered in LFS. In addition to labour force survey, enterprise surveys and social security registers are the major sources of employment statistics under the National Accounts system.

Employment to population ratio: is the total employment in a country as a percentage of that country’s population.

Hours usually worked per week: The number of hours usually worked per week, including paid or unpaid overtime. Travelling time between home and workplace and the time taken for the main meal break (usually at lunchtime) are excluded. For apprentices, trainees and other persons learning a job, any time spent at college or in other special training centres is excluded.

Labour force: see economically active population.

Long-term unemployment: refers to those persons who are unemployed for 12 months or more.

Occupational groups: The occupational grouping is based on International Standard Classification of Occupations 1988 (ISCO-88): Legislators, senior officials, managers: ISCO-88, Group 1.

· Professionals, technicians, associate professionals: ISCO-88, Groups 2 and 3.

· Clerks, service workers, shop and market sales workers: ISCO-88, Groups 4 and 5.

· Skilled agricultural and fishery workers: ISCO-88, Group 6.

· Craft and related workers, plant and machine operators and assemblers: ISCO-88, Groups 7 and 8.

· Elementary occupations: ISCO-88, Group 9.

· Other: ISCO-88, Group 0 and others.

Part-time employment: refers to persons who usually work less than 30 hours per week.

Public expenditure on labour market programmes: This includes the following categories: public employment services and administration, labour market training, youth measures, subsidised employment, measures for the disabled, unemployment compensation, and early retirement for labour market reasons.

Status in employment (according to International Classification by Status of Employment – ICSE 1993):

· Employees are those workers who hold a "paid employment job", i.e. they hold explicit (written or oral) employment contracts that give them a basic remuneration that is independent from the revenue of the unit they work for.

· Employers are those workers who hold a "self-employment job" and have continuously engaged one or more persons to work for them as employees. "Self-employment jobs" are those jobs where the remuneration is directly dependent upon their profits derived from the goods and services produced.

· Own-account workers hold a "self-employment job" and have not engaged any employees on a continuous basis.

· Family workers are those contributing family workers who hold a "self-employment job" in a market oriented establishment operated by a related person living in the same household.

· Members of producers cooperatives are workers who hold a “self-employment job” in a cooperative producing goods and services.

· Others comprise those who cannot be included in any of the other categories or for whom insufficient relevant information is available.

Unemployment: The unemployed comprise all persons above a specific age who during the reference period were: (a) without work - i.e. were not in paid employment or self-employment; and (b) currently available for work - i.e. were available for paid employment. The unemployment rate is calculated by relating the number of workers who are unemployed during the reference period to the labour force at the same date. Unless otherwise stated, all data on unemployment are from Labour Force Surveys. Registered unemployment comprises unemployed population registered at Employment or Labour Offices. This administrative approach to unemployment reflects national rules and conditions and usually yields different results from those of surveys using the ILO concept of unemployment, which includes persons often not covered in registered unemployment statistics, such as persons seeking work for the first time.

Youth unemployment: refers to the unemployed in the 15-24 years of age group.

Aid per capita: Net official aid records the actual international transfer by the donor of financial resources or of goods or services valued at the cost to the donor, less any repayments of loan principal during the same period. Grants by official agencies of the members of the Development Assistance Committee are included, as are loans with a grant element of at least 25 percent, and technical cooperation and assistance. Aid per capita includes both Official Development Assistance and official aid, and is calculated by dividing total aid by the midyear population estimate.

Annual indices of value added: Measures how the volume of different branches of GDP has grown. Value added in constant prices, indexed to a given base year.

Capital investment: Acquisitions less disposals of non-financial assets as a result of transactions with other units or internal bookkeeping transactions linked to production (changes in inventories and consumption of fixed capital).

Consumer price index: Measures changes over time in the general level of prices of goods and services that a reference population acquires or purchases for consumption. A consumer price index is estimated as the change in the prices of a fixed representative basket of consumer goods and services purchased by the reference population.

Contribution of major economic sectors to GDP: Percentage shares of the total value added for all sectors, at current prices.

Economic branch (sector): Using the International Standard Industry Classification (ISIC Rev3 1990), at the highest level the economy is divided into three branches: 1) agriculture covers agriculture, forestry and fishing (categories A+B); 2) industry comprises the production industries (including electricity, gas, and water), mining and quarrying, and construction (categories C-F); and 3) services comprise market services and non-market services (categories G-Q, X).

Exports of goods and services: Exports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, or gifts or grants, of goods and services from residents to non-residents.

External balance on goods and services (net trade): The value of exports of goods and services less imports of goods and services.

External debt: The net financial claims on an economy by the rest of the world, i.e. external financial assets less financial liabilities. External debt measures all recorded liabilities other than shares and other equity.

Final consumption expenditure: Final consumption consists of goods and services used up by individual households or the community to satisfy their individual or collective needs or wants. The final consumption takes place in three sectors: the households, the non-profit institutions servicing households (NPISHs) and the general government.

Final consumption expenditure of general government: Government final consumption expenditure consists of expenditure, including imputed expenditure, incurred by general government on both individual consumption goods and services and collective consumption services. The general government sector consists of the totality of institutional units, which in addition to fulfilling their political responsibilities and their role of economic regulation, produce principally non-market services (possibly goods) for individual or collective consumption and redistribute income and wealth.

Final consumption expenditure of households and non-profit institutions servicing households (NPISHs): The value of households’ expenditures on goods and services including expenditures on non-market goods or services sold at prices that are economically significant. The volume index of household final consumption expenditure describes how the demand of households has developed. Two basic factors affect the volume of household demand: (1) development of incomes, i.e. the development of wages and other incomes, and the development of employment; and (2) changes in households saving behaviour. In the normal situation, the effect of the first factor dominates and thus it is possible to use this indicator to assess how the welfare of households has developed at an aggregated level.

Gross capital formation: Gross capital formation is measured by the total value of the gross fixed capital formation, changes in inventories and acquisitions less disposals of valuables. Gross fixed capital formation is measured as the total value of a producer’s acquisitions, less disposal of fixed assets during the accounting period, plus certain additions to the value of non-produced assets realised by the productive activity of institutional units. Fixed assets can be tangible or intangible products that are used repeatedly or continuously in other processes of production for more than one year. Gross capital formation can be, e.g. acquisitions less disposals of dwellings, buildings and structures, machinery and equipment, cultivated assets (trees and livestock), mineral exploration, computer software, entertainment, literary or artistic originals, major improvements to tangible non-produced assets (including land), and costs associated with the transfers of ownership of non-produced assets.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The principal measure of total economic activity occurring within a country's geographical boundary. As an aggregate measure of production, the GDP of a country is equal to the sum of the gross value added of all resident institutional units engaged in production of goods and services (plus taxes and minus subsidies on imports) – as measured by the production approach. The GDP can also be measured by the expenditure approach, that is the sum of the final uses of goods and services (all uses except intermediate consumption) measured at purchasers' prices, less the value of imports of goods and services; or the sum of primary incomes distributed by resident producer units. When the final expenditures and imports are valued consistently with the inputs and outputs in the production accounts, the sum of the gross values added must be identical to the sum of final expenditures on consumption, gross capital formation and exports less imports.

Real GDP: GDP at constant (fixed) prices is a volume measure of value added used to show the growth in a country’s economy. It is a measure of the value added from domestic production plus indirect taxes, minus subsidies.

GDP value added: Gross value added is the value of output minus intermediate inputs. Intermediate input is the value of goods and services consumed as inputs by process of production, excluding fixed assets whose consumption contributes to gross value added.

Contribution of major economic branches to GDP: The value added by each major industry as a percentage of the GDP at the basic prices. GDP at basic prices is the sum of the value added at basic prices of all industries. Basic price is the amount receivable by the producer from the purchaser for a unit of goods or service produced as output excluding any Value Added Tax (VAT), or similar deductible tax invoiced to the purchaser plus an allocation for subsidies. It excludes any transport charges invoiced separately by the producer.

GDP at current prices (PPP$): The current price GDP of a country converted into US dollars on the basis of the purchasing power parity (PPP) of the country’s currency. PPP is a method to eliminate price level differences in currency conversion of GDP. See: purchasing power parities.

Gross National Income (GNI): Gross national income (GNI) is GDP less primary incomes payable to non-resident units plus primary incomes receivable from non-resident units; an alternative approach to measuring GNI at market prices is as the aggregate value of the balances of gross primary incomes for all sectors; (note that gross national income is identical to gross national product (GNP) as previously used in national accounts generally).

Imports of goods and services: Imports of goods and services consist of purchases, barter, or receipts of gifts or grants, of goods and services by residents from non- residents.

Net capital flows: Include foreign direct investment, portfolio investment, medium and long-term funds, short-term funds, IMF loans, etc.

Official Development Assistance (ODA): The flows of aid and other financial resources to aid recipients (developing countries and countries in transition) from members of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC). The DAC is one of the key forums in which the major bilateral donors work together to increase the effectiveness of their common efforts to support sustainable development. The DAC focuses on international development co-operation to increase the capacity of developing countries to participate in the global economy and the capacity of people to overcome poverty and participate fully in their societies. The long-standing UN target for ODA is 0.7% of gross national income.

Purchasing power parities (PPPs): purchasing power of a country’s currency, i.e. the rate of currency exchange that equalises the cost of a fixed representative basket of goods and services in the home country using national currency and in the reference country (the United States) using the US dollar converted at the PPP rate (the number of units of national currency required to purchase the same representative basket of goods and services that one US dollar would buy in the United States). It can be recommended to use the PPPs instead of the exchange rate in economic comparisons to take into account the price level differences between countries. PPPs are expressed in national currency units per US dollar.

Real gross wages: Gross wages or salaries deflated by changes in consumer prices to reflect the changes in the purchasing power of earnings.

Acute care hospitals: are hospitals or wards which are not long-stay psychiatric services nor dealing with tuberculosis, geriatric or other patients whose treatment requires a long stay. Often the overall length of stay of 30 or less days is used to define acute care hospitals or wards.

Age-standardized mortality rates: Age specific death rates averaged using as weights the distribution of the European standard population. This standardized rate represents what the crude death rate would have been in the population if that population had the same age distribution as the standard population.

AIDS: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

AIDS cases reported: Following WHO and UNAIDS recommendations, AIDS case reporting is carried out in most countries. Data from individual AIDS cases are aggregated at the national level and sent to WHO. However, case reports come from surveillance systems of varying quality. Reporting rates vary substantially from country to country and low reporting rates are common in developing countries due to weaknesses in the health care and epidemiological systems. In addition, countries use different AIDS case definitions. A main disadvantage of AIDS case reporting is that it only provides information on transmission patterns and levels of infection approximately 5-10 years in the past, limiting its usefulness for monitoring recent HIV infections.

Alcohol consumption: Total amount of pure ethanol in spirits, wine and beer consumed per capita in the country during the calendar year as calculated from official statistics on local production, import and export, taking into account stocks and home production, whenever possible. Conversion factors used to estimate amount of pure alcohol in beer is 4.5% and in wine 14% of alcohol.

Calories available per person per day: Total amount of food available for consumption when converted into kilocalories. Food availability is calculated using the official statistics on food production, imports, exports, and stocks.

Child (or Under-5) mortality rate: The annual number of deaths of infants and children under five years of age per 1 000 live births averaged over the previous five years.

Daily smokers: Refers to persons who smoke at least one cigarette per day on a regular basis.

Dentist (or stomatologist): is a person who has completed university level studies at a faculty or school of dentistry (stomatology) and who is actually working in dental care, or a physician with a post-graduate training in stomatology practising dental care only.

Doctor (physician): is a person who has completed studies in medicine at a university level. To be licensed for the independent practice of medicine (comprising prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation), (s)he must in most cases undergo additional post-graduate training in a hospital (6 months to a year or more). To establish his or her own practice, a physician must fulfil additional conditions. The number of physicians includes all active physicians working in the health service (public or private) including health services under other ministries than the Ministry of Health. Physicians in post-graduate training are also included.

European standard population: An artificial population with an arbitrary proportion of people in each age group, to which country and age-specific incidence rates are applied to obtain the number of cases that would have been expected to occur in one year in the standard population. The use of a special European standard population, rather than a world standard, is to reflect a population with a high proportion of old people.

Fruit and vegetables available per person per year: refers to all fruits (excluding wine) and vegetables available to the population per year. The total quantity of foodstuffs produced in a country added to the total quantity imported and adjusted to any change in stocks that may have occurred since the beginning of the reference period gives the supply available during that period. Quantities of food that are exported, fed to livestock, used for seed, put to manufacture for food use and non-food uses, losses during storage and transportation is subtracted from the total to obtain the food supplies available for human consumption. The per capita supply of each such food item available for human consumption is then obtained by dividing the respective quantity by the related data on the population actually partaking of it.

Healthy life expectancy (HALE): Health-Adjusted Life Expectancy is based on life expectancy at birth, but includes an adjustment for time spent in poor health. It is most easily understood as the equivalent number of years in full health that a newborn can expect to live based on current rates of ill-health and mortality.

Infant mortality rate: The annual number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1 000 live births in the same year.

Life expectancy at birth: The average number of years a new-born infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of birth were to continue throughout the child’s life.

Life expectancy at 65 years: The average number of years of life which would remain for persons reaching 65 if they continued to be subjected to the same mortality experienced in the year to which the life expectancies refer.

Live birth: The complete extraction or expulsion from the mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, which, after such separation, breathes or shows any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles, whether or not the umbilical cord has been cut or the placenta is attached; each product of such a birth is considered live born.

Pharmacist: is a person who has completed university level studies at a faculty or school of pharmacy and who is actually working in the public or private sector in pharmacies, hospitals, laboratories etc.

Total expenditure on health includes public and private expenditure measured as a percentage of GDP. Health expenditure refers to household health expenses; government supplied health services including those in schools, prisons, and armed forces, and special public health programmes such as vaccination; investment in clinics, laboratories etc; administration costs; research and development excluding outlays by pharmaceutical firms; industrial medicine; and outlays of voluntary and benevolent institutions.

Average estimated size of dwellings: Data refer to the average living floor space, which is the average floor space of dwellings measured inside the outer walls, excluding cellars, non-habitable attics and, in multi-dwelling houses, common spaces.

Central heating: Dwellings are considered as centrally heated if heating is provided either from a community heating centre or from an installation built in the building or in the dwelling, established for heating purposes, without regard to the source of energy.

Dwelling: A dwelling is a room or suite of rooms and its accessories in a permanent building or structurally separated part thereof which by the way it has been built, rebuilt, converted, etc., is intended for private habitation. It should have a separate access to a street (direct or via a garden or grounds) or to a common space within the building (staircase, passage, gallery, etc.). Detached rooms for habitation which are clearly built, rebuilt, converted, etc., to be used as a part of the dwelling should be counted as part of the dwelling. (A dwelling may thus be constituted of separate buildings within the same enclosure, provided they are clearly intended for habitation by the same private household, e.g. a room or rooms above a detached garage, occupied by servants or other members of the household).

Dwellings completed: Dwellings that are physically ready to be occupied.

Fixed shower or bath: Dwellings are counted as equipped with a fixed shower or bath if at least one of these is installed inside the dwelling.

Flush toilet: Dwellings are regarded as equipped with a flush toilet if at least one flush toilet is installed in the dwelling.

Piped water: Dwellings are regarded as equipped with piped water if the pipes are laid on inside the dwelling. Piped water may be provided either from a community scheme or from a private installation.

Rent index: The part of the consumer price index (see chapter 5) that refers to rent.

Domestic tourism: This refers to overnight stays in hotels and similar establishments by residents of the same country.

Freight transport: Any movement of a motor or railway vehicle involving the transport of goods and livestock, with the exception of service traffic, mail, baggage and non-revenue government stores.

International airport: Any airport designated by the Contracting State in whose territory it is situated as an airport of entry and departure for international air traffic, where the formalities incident to customs, immigration, public health, agricultural quarantine and similar procedures are carried out.

Motor vehicle: A road vehicle fitted with an engine whence it derives its sole means of propulsion, which is normally used for carrying persons or goods, or for drawing on the road vehicles used for the carriage of persons or goods. This term excludes vehicles running on rails.

Lorry: Rigid motor vehicle designed exclusively or primarily to carry goods.

Motor coach or bus: Passenger road motor vehicle designed to seat more than 9 persons (including the driver).

Motorcycle: Two-wheeled road motor vehicle with or without side-car, including motor scooter, or three-wheeled road motor vehicle not exceeding 400 kg (900 lb) unladen weight. All such vehicles with a cylinder capacity of 50 cc or over are included, as are those under 50 cc which do not meet the definition of moped.

Passenger car: A road motor vehicle, other than a motor cycle, intended for the carriage of passengers and designed to seat no more than nine persons (including the driver).

Road tractor: Road motor vehicle designed exclusively or primarily to haul other road vehicles which are not power driven (mainly semi-trailers).

Tram: Passenger road vehicle designed to seat more than 9 persons (including the driver), which is connected to electric conductors or powered by diesel engine and which is rail-borne.

Trolley bus: Passenger road vehicle designed to seat more than 9 persons (including the driver), which is connected to electric conductors and which is not rail-borne.

Motorway: Road, specially designed and built for motor traffic, which does not serve properties bordering on it, and which: a) is provided, except at special points or temporarily, with separate carriageways for the two directions of traffic, separated from each other, either by a dividing strip not intended for traffic, or exceptionally by other means; b) does not cross at level with any road, railway or tramway track, or footpath; c) is specially sign-posted as a motorway and is reserved for specific categories of road motor vehicles. Entry and exit lanes of motorways are included irrespectively of the location of the sign-posts. Urban motorways are also included.

Persons killed in road traffic accidents: Number of persons killed immediately or dying within 30 days as a result of a road traffic accident.

Passengers carried on aircraft; The number of passengers carried is obtained by counting each passenger on a particular flight (with one flight number) once only and not repeatedly on each individual stage of that flight, with a single exception that a passenger flying on both the international and domestic stages of the same flight should be counted as both a domestic and an international passenger.

Railway line: One or more adjacent running tracks forming a route between two points. Where a section of a network comprises two or more lines running alongside one another, there are as many lines as routes to which tracks are allotted exclusively.

Railway passenger traffic: Any movement of a railway vehicle on lines operated carrying passengers, with the exception of military, government and railway personnel carried without revenue.

Railway network: All railways in a given area. This does not include stretches of water even if rolling stock should be conveyed over such routes, e.g. wagon-carrying trailers or ferries. Lines solely used for tourism during the season are excluded as are railways constructed solely to serve mines, forests or other industrial or agricultural undertakings and which are not open to public traffic.

Railway statistics, scope of: Urban and suburban rail transport as well as metro (underground) transport which is not part of the main national railway network and is not organised by the principal railway enterprise is excluded, unless otherwise stated.

Railway staff: This includes general administration, operations and traffic staff, traction and rolling stock staff, way and works staff and other operation staff.

Road: Line of communication (travelled way) using a stabilised base other than rails or air strips open to public traffic, primarily for the use of road motor vehicles running on their own wheels.

Road traffic: Any movement of a road vehicle on a given network.

Road traffic accident involving personal injury: A road accident involving at least one road vehicle in motion on a public or private road to which the public has right of access, resulting in at least one injured or killed person.

Road traffic accidents per 1 000 motor vehicles: Total road accidents (causing personal injury) divided by the total number of motor vehicles and multiplied by 1 000. Motor vehicles include lorries, road tractors, passenger cars and buses (including trams and trolley buses).

Tourist: Any person who travels to a country other than that in which s/he has his/her usual residence, for a period of at least one night but not more than one year and whose main purpose of visit is other than the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the country visited. This term includes people travelling for: leisure; recreation and holidays; visiting friends and relatives; business and professional; health treatment; religion/pilgrimages and other purposes.

Tourism arrivals, international (Inbound tourism): All data refer to arrivals and not to actual numbers of people travelling. One person visiting the same country several times during the year is counted each time as a new arrival. Likewise the same person visiting several countries during the same trip is counted each time as a new arrival. International visitors include both overnight visitors and same-day visitors, unless otherwise stated.

Tourism departures, international (outbound tourism): This corresponds to the departures of resident visitors outside the economic territory of the country of reference.

Tourism expenditures: Expenditure in the country of reference corresponds to the expenditure of non-resident visitors (tourists and same-day visitors) within the economic territory of the country of reference. Tourism expenditures in other countries corresponds to the expenditure of resident visitors (tourists and same-day visitors) outside the economic territory of the country of reference. The figures on expenditures are given in current United States dollars and therefore reflect exchange rate fluctuations and price changes.

Coal: Coal includes all coal and brown coal, both primary (including hard coal and lignite/brown coal) and derived fuels (including patent fuel, coke oven coke, gas coke, BKB, coke oven gas, and blast furnace gas). Peat is also included in this category.

Combustible renewables and waste: This consists of solid biomass and animal products, gas/liquids from biomass, municipal waste, and industrial waste.

Crude oil and natural gas liquids: Comprises crude oil, natural gas liquids, refinery feedstocks, and additives as well as other hydrocarbons such as synthetic oil, mineral oils extracted from bituminous minerals.

Electricity: Electricity shows final consumption of electricity, which is accounted at the heat value of 1 GWh = 0.000086 Mtoe.

Final consumption of energy: Consumption by the different end-use sectors i.e. consumption by the industrial and transport sectors and by the services, agriculture and residential sectors.

Gas: Gas includes natural gas (excluding natural gas liquids) and gas works gas.

Oil: Refers to petroleum products that comprise refinery gas, ethane, LPG, aviation gasoline, motor gasoline, jet fuels, kerosene, gas/diesel oil, heavy fuel oil, naphtha, white spirit, lubricants, bitumen, paraffin waxes, petroleum coke and other petroleum products.

Primary energy: Energy that has not undergone any sort of conversion.

Refined petroleum products: refinery outputs, that is production of finished products at a refinery or blending plant, including: refinery gas, ethane, liquefied petroleum gases, naphtha, motor and aviation gasoline, gasoline type jet fuel, kerosene type jet fuel, other kerosene, gas/diesel oil, fuel oil, white spirit and industrial spirit, lubricants, bitumen, paraffin waxes, petroleum coke, and other products (e.g. tar and sulphur).

Renewable sources: Renewable sources include hydro, geothermal, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, tide, wind, renewable municipal solid waste, solid biomass and gases from biomass.

Tonne of Oil Equivalent (toe): The IEA energy balance methodology, which the energy data in this publication are mainly derived from, is based on the calorific content of the energy commodities and a common unit of account. The unit of account adopted is the tonne of oil equivalent (toe) which is defined as 10⁷ kilocalories (41.868 gigajoules). This quantity of energy is, within a few percent, equal to the net heat content of 1 tonne of crude oil. In this publication 1 tonne means 1 metric ton or 1000 kg.

Air Pollution: Air pollution data are presented for selected major air pollutants. Emissions, unless otherwise stated, are anthropogenic emissions.

Area: See chapter 1.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions: Represents the total emission from fuel combustion. CO2, carbon dioxide, is the principal greenhouse gas. It is measured on the basis of the amounts of fuels burned. A number of developed countries have taken an obligation under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce their emissions of six greenhouse gases, including CO2, below the levels of 1990 emissions.

Carbon monoxide (CO): is a colourless, odourless gas. It is emitted to the atmosphere mainly due to incomplete combustion of fuel or other organic matter.

Cultivated land: The sum of arable land and land under permanent crops. Arable land refers to land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted only once), temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow (less than five years). The abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included in this category. Data for "Arable land" are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable. Land under permanent crops refers to land cultivated with crops that occupy the land for long periods and need not be replanted after each harvest, such as cocoa, coffee and rubber; this category includes land under flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees and vines, but excludes land under trees grown for wood or timber.

Fertiliser consumption: Consumption of fertilisers during the year from 1 July to 30 June.

Forest area: Total forest area consists of all forest area for temperate developed countries, and the sum of natural forest and plantation area categories for tropical and temperate developing countries.

Irrigated land: Data on irrigation relate to areas equipped to provide water to the crops. These include areas equipped for full and partial control irrigation, spate irrigation areas, and equipped wetland or inland valley bottoms.

Kyoto Protocol: Adopted in 1997 by the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Kyoto Protocol establishes a legally binding obligation on most developed countries to reduce their emissions of six greenhouse gases (GHGs); the aggregate reduction is to be at least 5% below 1990 levels in the commitment period 2008-2012. There are no such obligations on the developing countries. Emission targets under the Protocol were differentiated to take into account differing national circumstances. Note that the United States and Australia have expressed their intention not to ratify the Protocol. To enter into force, the Protocol requires ratification by at least 55 Parties to the Convention, and these parties must account for no less than 55% of total carbon dioxide emissions of these countries in 1990. As of 28 April 2003, the Kyoto Protocol had been ratified by 108 countries, representing 43.9% of the total CO2 emissions. For more information, see http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.html

Methane: Methane is a volatile organic compound but is normally measured separately in air pollution statistics. It is produced mainly from the anaerobic decomposition of organic matter (often from landfills) or by animals, especial grazing animals.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx): The major source of nitrogen oxides is the burning of fossil fuels at high temperatures.

Nitrous oxides (N2O): Nitrous oxide is emitted from a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources. It is produced from natural microbiological processes in soil and water, as well as from human related activities like agriculture, industry, energy and waste management. As a result of human activity, atmospheric concentrations of nitrous oxide have risen by appr. 13 % during the last 200 years. Nitrous oxide is estimated to have about 300 times higher global warming potential than that of CO2.

Protected area: A protected area is defined by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) as: An area of land and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources, and managed through legal or other effective means. Although all protected areas meet the general purposes contained in this definition, in practice the precise purposes for which protected areas are managed differ greatly. Following are the definitions of IUCN Management categories I-VI:

Ia Strict nature reserve: protected area managed mainly for science;

Ib Wilderness Area: protected area managed mainly for wilderness protection;

II National Park: protected area managed mainly for ecosystem protection and recreation;

III National Monument: protected area managed mainly for conservation of specific natural features;

IV Habitat/Species Management Area: protected area managed mainly for conservation through management intervention;

V Protected Landscape/Seascape: protected area managed mainly for landscape/seascape conservation and recreation;

VI Managed Resource Protected Area: protected area managed mainly for the sustainable use of natural ecosystems.

Sulphur dioxide (SO2): Sulphur dioxide measured as a proxy for sulphur oxides. A major source of sulphur oxides is the combustion of high sulphur coal, especially brown coal.

Volatile organic compounds (VOC): VOC include all hydrocarbons and hydrocarbons where the hydrogen has been partially or wholly replaced by other atoms, which are volatile under ambient conditions. Data exclude methane, which is treated separately. VOCs are released in vehicle exhaust gases either as unburned fuels or as combustion products, and are also emitted by the evaporation of solvents and motor fuels.

Book production: This covers printed non-periodic publications that are published in a particular country, made available to the public, and which, in general, should be included in the national bibliography of the country.

Cable TV subscribers are the households that subscribe to a multi-channel television service delivered by a fixed-link connection. However, data may not be strictly comparable because some countries report other subscribers than those described above.

Cinemas: The data includes fixed, indoor, outdoor, drive-in and mobile cinemas. Data refer to commercial units though mobile cinemas may include some non-commercial units. Cinema attendance is calculated from the number of tickets sold.

Circulation: Circulation figures show the average circulation, or the average circulation per issue in the case of non-daily publications. These figures should include the number of copies (a) sold directly, (b) sold by subscription and (c) mainly distributed free of charge both inside the country and abroad.

Compound annual growth rate (CAGR): The annualised (single year) percentage growth derived from the growth over a period (generally) over one year. It is calculated using the following formula: [(Pv/Po)(1/n)]-1, where: Pv= Present Value; Po= Beginning Value; and n = Number of periods (years). The result is multiplied by 100 to obtain a percentage. “n” need not be a whole number.

Fax machines: The estimated number of facsimile machines. Estimates of all types of equipment and includes both publicly available (i.e. Bureaufax) and private equipment (i.e. Telefax) connected to the PSTN (public switched telephone network). Some operators report only the equipment sold, leased or registered by them and therefore the actual number is almost certainly much higher.

Internet hosts: Number of computers in the economy that are directly linked to the worldwide Internet network. Internet host computers are identified by a two-digit country code or a three-digit code generally reflecting the nature of the organization using the Internet computer. The numbers of hosts are assigned to countries based on the country code although this does not necessarily indicate that the host is actually physically in the country. All other hosts for which there is no country code identification are assigned to the United States. Therefore the number of Internet hosts shown for each country can only be considered as an approximation.

Internet users, estimated number: The estimates are based on reported Internet access provider subscriber counts, or are calculated by multiplying the number of hosts by an estimated multiplier.

Letter post items: Items of correspondence. These include letters; postcards; printed papers (newspapers, periodicals, advertising etc.); small packets; literature for the blind, and in domestic service: commercial papers; samples of merchandise; “Phonopost” items; postal packets, etc. The average number posted per capita is the number of domestic items plus the number of international dispatches divided by the country’s population. Dispatch refers to items sent abroad, and Receipt refers to items received from abroad.

Main telephone lines: Telephone line connecting a subscriber to the telephone exchange equipment. This term is synonymous with the terms: main station; direct exchange line (DEL); and access line.

Mobile cellular telephone subscribers: Users of portable telephones subscribing to an automatic public mobile telephone service using cellular technology that provides access to the PSTN (public switched telephone network).

Newspaper: Periodic publications intended for the general public and mainly designed to be a primary source of written information on current events connected with public affairs, international questions, politics, etc. Newspapers are considered to be daily if they are issued at least four times a week. Those appearing three times a week or less frequently are considered as non-daily newspapers.

PCs: Refers to Personal Computers.

Permanent post offices: Refers to offices open to the public and operating on permanent premises. This includes main offices, offering a full range of services, and secondary offices, offering a limited range of services and/or with restricted access to the public. Sections of offices of exchange or sorting offices providing the appropriate services and open to the public are also included.

Population with mail delivered at home: The percentage of the population that is able to receive mail at home. This includes those who, for the sake of personal convenience, prefer to collect their mail at a post-office but who otherwise could have it delivered at home.

Price of a local telephone call: the cost of a three-minute fixed line call within the same exchange area using the subscriber’s equipment (i.e. not from a public telephone). This is the price a subscriber must pay for a three-minute call and not the average price for each three minutes. Any taxes involved in this charge are also included to improve comparability. This cost is converted to US cents ($0.01) by using the average annual exchange rate.

Satellite dishes: Refers to the number of households with access to a multi-channel television service delivered by satellite. This figure includes both direct-to-the-home (DTH) service and satellite master antenna television (SMATV) which serves several households in the same building. SMATV serving households in different buildings is counted as cable TV.

Television receivers: All types of receivers for television broadcasts to the general public including those connected to a cable distribution system. Private sets installed in public places are also included as well as communal receivers.

Appointment: A system whereby an individual (elected or otherwise) or un-elected body selects representatives for a national assembly.

Assembly/Chamber/House: Distinct voting or deliberative body within a parliament.

Bicameral: Parliament with two chambers.

Co-opted seats: Seats for which the occupants are not necessarily directly elected.

Ex officio: Member who holds a seat by right of formerly holding a government post (often ex-presidents).

Indirect election: A system whereby an elected body (often a regional assembly) selects a number of persons to act as representatives in an assembly.

Majority system: Electoral system whereby electors vote for a single candidate. The candidate with the most votes is then declared elected (absolute majority system). Alternatively, in some systems, if no candidate has more than 50% of the votes a number (often two) of the candidates with the most votes proceed to a second round where the process is repeated (two round majority system).

Parliament: Legislative or deliberative assembly. One or more chambers or assemblies that form (or form part of) the legislature of a country. The term may also be applied to multinational legislative bodies.

Proportional representation: Electoral system such that parties are represented in proportion to the number of votes cast for the party. In practice there are numerous variants of such a system. In some systems a minimum proportion of the vote is required in order to obtain a seat(s).

Seat: Right to a place in an assembly.

Single transferable vote: Electoral system whereby an elector ranks candidates in order of preference. Should no candidate have an overall majority of first preference votes, a candidate(s) is then eliminated and their votes are then assigned to the next preferred candidate.

Unicameral: Parliament with one chamber.

Assault: An assault refers to physical attack against the body of another person, including battery but excluding indecent assault.

Clear-up rates: The number of cases solved by the police as a percentage of the total number of cases recorded by the police for the year in question, regardless of whether the case came to the attention of the police in that year or in previous years. Clear-up rates thus exceed 100% in some cases. Crimes are considered “solved”: if police are satisfied of a suspect’s guilt because of a corroborated confession and/or because of the weight of evidence against the suspect; if the offender is caught in the act (even if guilt is denied); if the person who committed the act has been identified (regardless of whether they are in custody, on provisional release, still at large, or dead); or if police investigations reveal that no penal offence was in fact committed.

Committed homicide: Intentional and unintentional killing. The distinction between intentional and unintentional homicide differs from country to country, as does the definition of attempted murder. Unintentional homicide is defined as any illegal or malicious act that results in