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Definitions and Sources


States parties to United Nations legal instruments: Indicates whether a country has ratified the relevant international instrument and if so, the year of ratification. The relevant instruments are the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees; the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, and the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. In addition, two Protocols relevant to international migration supplement the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, namely the 2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children and the 2000 Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air. Source: United Nations Treaty Collection. See: http://treaties.un.org.

Males: De facto male population as of 1 July of the year indicated. Data are presented in thousands. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Females: De facto female population as of 1 July of the year indicated. Data are presented in thousands. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Total population: De facto population in a country, area or region as of 1 July of the year indicated. Figures are presented in thousands. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Percentage urban population: Urban population as a percentage of the total population. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2012). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2011 Revision.

Percentage rural population: Rural population as a percentage of the total population. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2012). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2011 Revision.

Annual rate of change: Average exponential rate of growth of the population over a given period. It is expressed as a percentage. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Annual rate of natural increase: Crude birth rate minus the crude death rate. Represents the portion of population growth (or decline) determined exclusively by births and deaths. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Crude net migration rate: The ratio of net migration during the year to the average population in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 inhabitants. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Total net migration: Net number of migrants, that is, the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants. It is expressed in thousands. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013) World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Total population at end of period: Total population on 30 June of the final year of the period. Data are from the medium variant (see below) of the World Population Prospects. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Population change during period: Total population change over a period, that is, the difference between the population at the end of the period and that at the beginning of the period. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Medium variant: The medium projection variant combines the medium fertility assumption together with normal-mortality and normal international migration assumptions and is a central reference for trends over the longer term that results from the probabilistic approach that simulates future fertility paths for each country. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Zero-migration variant: Under this assumption, the medium variant is modified so that international migration for each country is set to zero starting in 2010-2015. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Life expectancy at birth: Number of years a newborn infant could expect to live if prevailing patterns of age-specific mortality rates at the time of birth stay the same throughout the infant’s life. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision.

Adult literacy rate: The percentage of population aged 15 years and older who can both read and write with understanding a short simple statement on his/her everyday life. Generally, ‘literacy’ also encompasses ‘numeracy’, the ability to make simple arithmetic calculations. Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Institute for Statistics (2012). http://stats.uis.unesco.org

Combined gross enrolment ratio in education: Total enrolment in a specific level of education, regardless of age, expressed as a percentage of the eligible official school-age population corresponding to the same level of education in a given school year. For the tertiary level, the population used is that of the five-year age group following on from the secondary school leaving. Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Institute for Statistics (2012). http://stats.uis.unesco.org

GDP per capita (PPP in USD): Gross domestic product converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates. An international dollar has the same purchasing power over GDP as the U.S. dollar has in the United States. GDP at purchaser's prices is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. Data are in current international dollars. Source: World Development Indicators - World Bank (2013).

Human development index (HDI): A composite measure of achievements in three basic dimensions of human development—a long and healthy life, access to education and a decent standard of living. For ease of comparability, the average value of achievements in these three dimensions is put on a scale of 0 to 1, where greater is better, and these indicators are aggregated using geometric means. Source: United Nations Development Program (2013). Human Development Report Office.

Remittances: Remittances are defined as the sum of workers’ remittances, compensation of employees, and migrants’ transfers. Regional aggregates were calculated by the United Nations Population Division. All data are reported in current U.S. dollars. Remittance inflows refer to the sum of workers' remittances, compensation of employees and migrants' transfers received by the country of enumeration, while outflows refer to remittance outflows by the country of enumeration. Source: World Bank staff calculation based on data from IMF Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook 2012 and data releases from central banks, national statistical agencies, and World Bank country desks.

Remittance inflows as share of GDP: Source: World Bank staff calculation based on data from IMF Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook 2012 and data releases from central banks, national statistical agencies, and World Bank country desks.

International migrant stock by age and sex : The mid-year (1 July) estimate of the number of people living in a country or area other than that in which they were born. If the number of foreign-born was not available, the estimate refers to the number of people living in a country other than that of their citizenship. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2013 Revision (United Nations database, POP/DB/MIG/Stock/Rev.2013). See: www.unmigration.org

Migrant stock by origin (2013): The five countries from which the largest numbers of migrants originate for the reporting country. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2013 Revision (United Nations database, POP/DB/MIG/Stock/Rev.2013).

Migrant stock by destination (2013): The five countries in which the largest numbers of migrants originating from reporting country reside. Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2013). Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2013 Revision (United Nations database, POP/DB/MIG/Stock/Rev.2013).

Refugee population by origin (end 2012): Persons by country of origin who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol or under the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa ; those granted refugee status in accordance with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Statute; those granted humanitarian status or temporary protection by the State in which they find themselves; those in refugee-like situations; and Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA. Source: UNHCR (2013). 2012 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons. See: www.unhcr.org/statistics.

Refugee population (destination) (end 2012): Persons by country of destination who are recognized as refugees under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol or under the 1969 Organization of African Unity Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa ; those granted refugee status in accordance with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Statute; those granted humanitarian status or temporary protection by the State in which they find themselves; those in refugee-like situations; and Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA. Source: UNHCR (2013). 2012 Global Trends: Refugees, Asylum-seekers, Returnees, Internally Displaced and Stateless Persons. See: www.unhcr.org/statistics.

Tertiary students: Student population by country of origin and destination enrolled in programmes with an educational content more advanced than what is offered at ISCED levels 3 and 4. The first stage of tertiary education, ISCED level 5, covers level 5A, composed of largely theoretically based programmes intended to provide sufficient qualifications for gaining entry to advanced research programmes and professions with high skill requirements; and level 5B, where programmes are generally more practical, technical and/or occupationally specific. The second stage of tertiary education, ISCED level 6, comprises programmes devoted to advanced study and original research, and leading to the award of an advanced research qualification. Source: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Institute for Statistics (2012). http://stats.uis.unesco.org