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Indicators
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The statistical tables in this year’s State of World Population
report once again give special attention to indicators that
can help track progress in meeting the quantitative and
qualitative goals of the International Conference on
Population and Development (ICPD) and the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) in the areas of mortality
reduction, access to education, access to reproductive
health services including family planning and HIV/AIDS
prevalence among young people. Several changes have
been made in other indicators, as noted below. Future
reports will include different process measures when
these become available, as ICPD and MDG follow-up efforts
lead to improved monitoring systems. Improved monitoring
of the financial contributions of governments,
non-governmental organizations and the private sector
should also allow better future reporting of expenditures
and resource mobilization for ICPD/MDG implementation
efforts. The sources for the indicators and their rationale
for selection follow, by category.
INDICATORS OF MORTALITY
Infant mortality, male and female life expectancy at birth. Source: United Nations Population Division. 2003. World
Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision. New York: United
Nations. Spreadsheets provided by the United Nations
Population Division. These indicators are measures of
mortality levels, respectively, in the first year of life
(which is most sensitive to development levels) and
over the entire lifespan.
Maternal mortality ratio. Source: “Maternal Mortality in
2000: Estimates Developed by WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA”
(forthcoming). This indicator presents the number of
deaths to women per 100,000 live births which result
from conditions related to pregnancy, delivery and related
complications. Precision is difficult, though relative
magnitudes are informative. Estimates below 50 are not
rounded; those 50-100 are rounded to the nearest 5; 100-
1,000, to the nearest 10; and above 1,000, to the nearest
100. Several of the estimates differ from official government
figures. The estimates are based on reported figures
wherever possible, using approaches to improve the comparability
of information from different sources. See the
source for details on the origin of particular national
estimates. Estimates and methodologies are regularly
reviewed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, academic institutions
and other agencies and are revised where necessary
as part of the ongoing process of improving maternal
mortality data. Because of changes in methods, prior
estimates for 1995 levels may not be strictly comparable
with these estimates.
INDICATORS OF EDUCATION
Male and female gross primary enrolment ratios, male and female
gross secondary enrolment ratios. Source: Spreadsheets provided by UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal.
Gross enrolment ratios indicate the number of students
enrolled in a level in the education system per 100 individuals
in the appropriate age group. They do not correct
for individuals who are older than the level-appropriate
age due to late starts, interrupted schooling or grade
repetition.
Male and female adult illiteracy. Source: Spreadsheets provided by UNESCO Institute for Statistics, Montreal.
Illiteracy definitions are subject to variation in different
countries; three widely accepted definitions are in use.
In so far as possible, data refer to the proportion who
cannot, with understanding, both read and write a short
simple statement on everyday life. Adult illiteracy (rates
for persons above 15 years of age) reflects both recent
levels of educational enrolment and past educational
attainment. The above education indicators have been
updated using the UN Population Division estimates from
World Population Prospects (The 2000 Revision). New York:
United Nations. Education data are for the most recent
year estimates available for the 1998-2000 period.
Proportion completing final grade of primary education. Source:
UNESCO Institute for Statistics spreadsheet: School Life
Expectancy, Percentage of Repeaters and Survival Rate in
Primary Education by Country and Gender. Data are most
recent within the years 1998-2000. Thirteen countries
reported data to grade 4 (see original source).
INDICATORS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Births per 1,000 women aged 15-19. Source: spreadsheets provided by the United Nations Population Division. This
is an indicator of the burden of fertility on young women.
Since it is an annual level summed over all women in the
age cohort, it does not reflect fully the level of fertility
for women during their youth. Since it indicates the
annual average number of births per woman per year, one
could multiply it by five to approximate the number of
births to 1,000 young women during their late teen years.
The measure does not indicate the full dimensions of teen
pregnancy as only live births are included in the numerator.
Stillbirths and spontaneous or induced abortions are not
reflected.
Contraceptive prevalence. Source: United Nations Population Division. 2003. Database on Contraceptive Use
(updated June 2003). New York: United Nations. These
data are derived from sample survey reports and estimate
the proportion of married women (including women in
consensual unions) currently using, respectively, any
method or modern methods of contraception. Modern or
clinic and supply methods include male and female sterilization,
IUD, the pill, injectables, hormonal implants,
condoms and female barrier methods. These numbers are
roughly but not completely comparable across countries
due to variation in the timing of the surveys and in the
details of the questions. Unlike in past years, all country
and regional data refer to women aged 15-49. All of the
data were collected in 1995 or later. The most recent
survey data available are cited.
HIV prevalence rate, M/F, 15-24. Source: UNAIDS. 2002.
The Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic. Geneva: UNAIDS.
These data derive from surveillance system reports and
model estimates. Data provided for men and women aged
15-24 are, respectively, averages of high and low estimates
for each country. The reference year is 2001. Male-female
differences reflect physiological and social vulnerability
to the illness and are affected by age differences between
sexual partners.
DEMOGRAPHIC, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Total population 2003, projected population 2050, average annual
population growth rate for 2000-2005. Source: Spreadsheets provided by the United Nations Population
Division. These indicators present the size, projected
future size and current period annual growth of national
populations.
Per cent urban, urban growth rates. Source: United Nations
Population Division. 2002. World Urbanization Prospects: The
2001 Revision: Data Tables and Highlights (Doc. ESA/P/WP.173.)
New York: United Nations. These indicators reflect the
proportion of the national population living in urban areas
and the growth rate in urban areas projected for 2000-2005.
Agricultural population per hectare of arable and permanent
crop land. Source: Data provided by Food and Agriculture Organization (from FAO Statistical
Development Service), using agricultural population
data based on the total populations from United Nations
Population Division. 2001. World Population Prospects: The
2000 Revision. New York: United Nations. This indicator
relates the size of the agricultural population to the land
suitable for agricultural production. It is responsive to
changes in both the structure of national economies
(proportions of the workforce in agriculture) and in technologies
for land development. High values can be related
to stress on land productivity and to fragmentation of
land holdings. However, the measure is also sensitive to
differing development levels and land use policies. Data
refer to the year 2000.
Total fertility rate (period: 2000-2005). Source: Spreadsheets provided by the United Nations Population
Division. The measure indicates the number of children
a woman would have during her reproductive years if
she bore children at the rate estimated for different age
groups in the specified time period. Countries may reach
the projected level at different points within the period.
Births with skilled attendants. Source: UNICEF Global Database: Skilled Attendant at Delivery (on UNICEF web
site). Data for more developed countries are not available.
This indicator is based on national reports of the proportion
of births attended by “skilled health personnel or
skilled attendant: doctors (specialist or non-specialist)
and/or persons with midwifery skills who can diagnose
and manage obstetrical complications as well as normal
deliveries”. Data for more developed countries reflect
their higher levels of skilled delivery attendance. Because
of assumptions of full coverage, data (and coverage) deficits
of marginalized populations and the impacts of chance
and transport delays may not be fully reflected in official
statistics. Data estimates are the most recent available.
Gross national income per capita. Source: 2001 figures from: The World Bank. World Development Indicators Online.
Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. This indicator (formerly
referred to as gross national product [GNP] per capita)
measures the total output of goods and services for final
use produced by residents and non-residents, regardless
of allocation to domestic and foreign claims, in relation
to the size of the population. As such, it is an indicator
of the economic productivity of a nation. It differs from
gross domestic product (GDP) by further adjusting for
income received from abroad for labour and capital by
residents, for similar payments to non-residents, and by
incorporating various technical adjustments including
those related to exchange rate changes over time. This
measure also takes into account the differing purchasing
power of currencies by including purchasing power parity
(PPP) adjustments of “real GNI”. Some PPP figures are
based on regression models; others are extrapolated from
the latest International Comparison Programme benchmark
estimates; see original source for details.
Central government expenditures on education and health.
Source: The World Bank. 2003. World Development Indicators
Online. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank. These indicators
reflect the priority afforded to education and health
sectors by a country through the government expenditures
dedicated to them. They are not sensitive to
differences in allocations within sectors, e.g., primary
education or health services in relation to other levels,
which vary considerably. Direct comparability is complicated
by the different administrative and budgetary
responsibilities allocated to central governments in
relation to local governments, and to the varying roles
of the private and public sectors. Reported estimates are
presented as shares of GDP per capita (for education) or
total GDP (for health). Great caution is also advised about
cross-country comparisons because of varying costs of
inputs in different settings and sectors. Data refer to
the most recent estimates 1998-2001.
External assistance for population. Source: UNFPA. 2002.
Financial Resource Flows for Population Activities in 2000. New
York: UNFPA. This figure provides the amount of external
assistance expended in 2000 for population activities in each
country. External funds are disbursed through multilateral
and bilateral assistance agencies and by non-governmental
organizations. Donor countries are indicated by their contributions
being placed in parentheses. Future editions of
this report will use other indicators to provide a better
basis for comparing and evaluating resource flows in support
of population and reproductive health programmes
from various national and international sources. Regional
totals include both country-level projects and regional
activities (not otherwise reported in the table).
Under-5 mortality. Source: United Nations Population Division, special tabulation based on: United Nations.
2003. World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision. New York:
United Nations. This indicator relates to the incidence
of mortality to infants and young children. It reflects,
therefore, the impact of diseases and other causes of
death on infants, toddlers and young children. More
standard demographic measures are infant mortality and
mortality rates for 1 to 4 years of age, which reflect differing
causes of and frequency of mortality in these ages.
The measure is more sensitive than infant mortality to
the burden of childhood diseases, including those preventable
by improved nutrition and by immunization
programmes. Under-5 mortality is here expressed as
deaths to children under 5 per 1,000 live births in a
given year. The estimate refers to the period 2000-2005.
Per capita energy consumption. Source: The World Bank. 2003. World Development Indicators Online. Washington, D.C.:
The World Bank. This indicator reflects annual consumption
of commercial primary energy (coal, lignite, petroleum,
natural gas and hydro, nuclear and geothermal electricity)
in kilograms of oil equivalent per capita. It reflects the level
of industrial development, the structure of the economy
and patterns of consumption. Changes over time can reflect
changes in the level and balance of various economic
activities and changes in the efficiency of energy use
(including decreases or increases in wasteful consumption).
Data are for 2000.
Access to safe water. Source: Calculations from rural and urban improved water source data provided in
UNICEF End-decade Databases: Water and per cent urban
data from the United Nations Population Division (see
above). This indicator reports the percentage of the population
with access to an adequate amount of safe drinking
water located within a convenient distance from the user’s
dwelling. The italicized words use country-level definitions.
The indicator is related to exposure to health risks,
including those resulting from improper sanitation.
Data are estimates for the year 2000.
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