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This section describes the variables used in the report, sources for the data, and any special notes.  As mentioned elsewhere, all data sets are used by permission.

Population

Population data, including total population size, change in population, infant mortality rate, life expectancy, births per thousand, etc are all available at:

U.S. Census Bureau, International Data Base,    http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html
Online Demographic Aggregation at    http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbagg.html.

For the list of countries and states used in this report, see http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html   Then click on Display or Spreadsheet.  All of the countries in the list are used for 2001 data.  All countries with data available for 1980 are used for the 1980 data.

"The International Data Base (IDB) is a computerized data bank containing statistical tables of demographic, and
socio-economic data for 227 countries and areas of the world."  The countries actually refer to "independent states" and "dependencies and areas of special sovereignty."  Independent state are listed at the U.S. State Department site, at  http://www.state.gov/www/regions/independent_states.html   and are defined as: "independent state" refers to a people politically organized into a sovereign state with a definite territory recognized as independent by the US.  Dependencies are listed at the U.S. State Department site, at   http://www.state.gov/www/regions/dependencies.html

We also compare some population results by less/more developed country status.  The less/more developed is defined in the report "World Population Profile: 1998" available at   http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/wp98.html  , in appendix D.
 

Human and Social data

Food Security data is from United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report, 1999,  Human Development Indicators page, at   http://www.undp.org/hdro/indicators.html   See the    Food Security Table.

The UNDP data describes countries using a Human Development Index, e.g., low, medium and high human development.  The development level is described at the FAQs page   http://www.undp.org/hdr2000/english/FAQs.html   Basically, "The Human Development Index measures a country's achievements in three aspects of human development: longevity, knowledge, and a decent standard of living.  Longevity is measured by life expectancy at birth; knowledge is measured by a combination of the adult literacy rate and the combined gross primary, secondary, and tertiary enrolment ratio; and standard of living, as measured by GDP per capita (PPP US$)."

They also mention "The indices can only offer a broad proxy on the issues of human development .... A fuller picture of a country's level of human development requires analysis of other human development indicators and information."
 

Education

Economic

Political

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last updated 9/29/01