Total Fertility Rate
	unit: children/woman (number of children per woman) dimension: region

The TFR represents the number of children a woman would have at the end of her fertile period if current age-specific fertility rates prevailed. The main factors influencing the age-specific fertility rates are the age at marriage, use and effectiveness of contraceptives, abortion rates, and the length of the breastfeeding period. These four factors, or the proximate determinants of fertility are modified by the level of the human development index, policy measures and individual characteristics. The total yearly number of births is calculated on the basis of the age-specific fertility rates and the number of women aged 15 to 49.

	Life Expectancy
	unit: yr (years) dimension: region

The mean number of years a newborn may expect to live given the present mortality experience of a population. The life expectancy for a population is a summary measure that reflects the mortality rates for all ages combined, weighted in accordance with a life-table population structure. The age-specific mortality rates are used to calculate the age-specific number of deaths.

	Households
	unit: nr * 1000000 (number times million ) dimension: region

The number of households is calculated on the basis of the average household size (input variable) and the total population. The number of household may be more appropriate as an indicator for aspects like energy and water consumption than the total population.

	Population
	unit: million persons dimension: region

The size and structure of a population is determined by three fundamental demographic processes: birth, death and migration. The number of births is determined by the fertility rates, the number of deaths by the age-specific mortality rates. Migration is taken into account exogenously by the total number of net migrants per year (i.e. immigration flow minus emigration). These aspects are included in a standard cohort-component model of 101 age groups and the two sexes.

	Population growth
	unit: %/yr (percent per year) dimension: region

The yearly population growth in percent per year is obtained from the size of the population in a certain year and that of the previous year.

	Urbanization
	unit: none (fraction) dimension: region

The fraction of the population living in urban areas. This is an exogenous variable (source UN, 1998).

	Dependency Ratio
	unit: N.A. dimension: region

The ratio between the population considered to be dependent (below 15 years of age and 65 years and over), and the working-age population (15-65 years). This is an indicator of the age distribution of the population and is derived from the population by age.

	Human Poverty Index
	unit: none (index [0-1]) dimension: region

This indicator represents a further refinement of the human development index (HDI) and is used as a measure of population affected by three key deprivations:

• a short life i.e. die before the age of 40
• lack of basic education
• lack of access to public and private resources, consisting of the following three components: percentage without access to health services, percentage without access to safe drinking water and the percentage of malnourished children under five.

	Human Development Index
	unit: none (index [0-1]) dimension: region

The human development index (developed by UNDP) representing the development level of a country based on three components: income, education and longevity.

The HDI contains the following three dimensions:

• life expectancy at birth, representing a long and healthy life
• educational attainment, representing knowledge
• real gross domestic product (GDP in purchasing power parity, PPP dollars). This represents a decent standard of living (UNDP, 1995).

For each of the components the following minimum and maximum values have been established:

HDI1	Life expectancy at birth ranging from 25 and 85 years
HDI2a	Adult literacy, ranging from 0% and 100%
HDI2b	Enrolment ratio, ranging from 0% and 100%
HDI3	Real income per capita expressed in 1995 US dollars in PPP (ranging from $100 and $40000).

Given the actual values, the level of development in the range of zero to one is determined for each of the three indicators. The HDI is then obtained by taking the average of the three components.