Developmentrelevance: Financial protection in health is one of two dimensions of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) which is defined as all people being able to access the health services they need without facing financial hardship. As Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 3.8.2, financial protection forms part of SDG Target 3.8 (UHC) and directly relates to SDG 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) and SDG 1 (End poverty in all its forms everywhere). As a component of UHC, it is key to improving the well-being of a country’s population, an investment in human capital and a foundational driver of inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development.

Generalcomments: This indicator is related to Sustainable Development Goal 3.8.2 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

IndicatorName: Number of people pushed further below the $2.15 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the number of people living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the $2.15 poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Notesfromoriginalsource:
1. The “Pushed further below the poverty line by out-of-pocket health payments” indicators were newly introduced in the 2021 edition of the Global Monitoring Report on Financial Protection in Health (GMR). They represent the number and population shares of people who live in households which have both (a) total consumption (including out-of-pocket health payments) beneath the poverty line and (b) any out-of-pocket payments. Because the households are already poor, any out-of-pocket payments are considered financial hardship. The new indicators replace the “Change in poverty-gap due to out-of-pocket health payments”-indicators used to measure the poverty deepening effect of out-of-pocket payments in previous GMR editions (e.g., SH.UHC.NOP1.ZG and SH.UHC.NOP1.CG). For the measurement of overall medical impoverishment, the new indicators are complementary to the “Pushed below the poverty line by out-of-pocket health payments” indicators reported in all GMRs (e.g., SH.UHC.NOP1.TO and SH.UHC.NOP1.ZS), which represent the number and population share of people who live in households which lie above the poverty line when out-of-pocket health payments are included in consumption, but fall below the poverty line when out-of-pocket health payments are subtracted from consumption.

2. For the aggregated data, World Bank’s historical income classification that was based on data from each respective year was used.  For example, the FY2002 income classification based on the 2000 GNI per capita was used for the 2000 aggregates, the FY2007 income classification based on the 2005 GNI per capita was used for the 2005 aggregates, and so on.

3. For details of the definition for out-of-pocket health spending, please see the following publication:   World Health Organization and World Bank. 2021. Global Monitoring Report on Financial Protection in Health 2021.

Shortdefinition: Further impoverishing health spending, 2.15$

Source: Global Health Observatory. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023. (https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/financial-protection)

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Out-of-pocket payments are those made by people at the time of getting any type of service (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, palliative or long-term care) provided by any type of provider. They include cost-sharing (the part not covered by a third party like an insurer) and informal payments, but they exclude insurance premiums. Out-of-pocket payments exclude any reimbursement by a third party, such as the government, a health insurance fund or a private insurance company. Out-of-pocket payments are defined as catastrophic at the 10% (25%) threshold when they represent 10% (25%) or more of household total consumption or income. They are defined as impoverishing if they push household consumption or income below the $2.15 or $3.65 ($ 2017 PPP) per day poverty lines or the relative poverty line of 60% of median consumption, or if they are incurred by households already living under the $2.15 or $3.65 ($ 2017 PPP) per day poverty lines or the relative poverty line of 60% of median consumption.

Topic: Health: Universal Health Coverage


Aggregationmethod: Weighted average

IndicatorName: Proportion of population pushed further below the $2.15 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure (%)

License_Type: CC BY-4.0

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the fraction of a country’s population living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the $2.15 poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Periodicity: Annual

Shortdefinition: Further impoverishing health spending, 2.15$ (%)


Aggregationmethod: Sum

IndicatorName: Number of people pushed further below the $3.65 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the number of people living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the $3.65 poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending.  Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Further impoverishing health spending, 3.65$


IndicatorName: Proportion of population pushed further below the $3.65 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure (%)

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the fraction of a country’s population living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the $3.65 poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Further impoverishing health spending, 3.65$ (%)


IndicatorName: Number of people pushed further below the 60% median consumption poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the number of people living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the 60% median consumption poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending.  Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Further impoverishing health spending, 60% of median


IndicatorName: Proportion of population pushed further below the 60% median consumption poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure (%)

Longdefinition:
This indicator shows the fraction of a country’s population living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the 60% median consumption poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending.
Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Further impoverishing health spending, 60% of median (%)


IndicatorName: Number of people pushed below the $2.15 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the number of people living in households experiencing impoverishing out-of-pocket health expenditures, defined as expenditures without which the household they live in would have been above the $2.15 poverty line, but because of the expenditures is below the poverty line.  Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Notesfromoriginalsource:
1. For the aggregated data, World Bank’s historical income classification that was based on data from each respective year was used.  For example, the FY2002 income classification based on the 2000 GNI per capita was used for the 2000 aggregates, the FY2007 income classification based on the 2005 GNI per capita was used for the 2005 aggregates, and so on.

2. For details of the definition for out-of-pocket health spending, please see the following publication:   World Health Organization and World Bank. 2021. Global Monitoring Report on Financial Protection in Health 2021.

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing health spending, 2.15$


IndicatorName: Proportion of population pushed below the $2.15 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure (%)

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the fraction of a country’s population experiencing out-of-pocket health impoverishing expenditures, defined as expenditures without which the household they live in would have been above the $ 2.15 poverty line, but because of the expenditures is below the poverty line. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing health spending, 2.15$ (%)


IndicatorName: Number of people pushed below the $3.65 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the number of households experiencing impoverishing out-of-pocket health expenditures, defined as expenditures without which the household would have been above the $3.65 poverty line, but because of the expenditures is below the poverty line.  Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing health spending, 3.65$


IndicatorName: Proportion of population pushed below the $3.65 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure (%)

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the fraction of a country’s population experiencing out-of-pocket health impoverishing expenditures, defined as expenditures without which the household they live in would have been above the $3.65 poverty line, but because of the expenditures is below the poverty line.  Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing health spending, 3.65$ (%)


IndicatorName: Number of people pushed below the 60% median consumption poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the number of people living in households experiencing impoverishing expenditures, defined as out-of-pocket health expenditures without which the household they live in would have been above the 60% median consumption poverty line, but because of the expenditures is below the poverty line. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing health spending, 60% of median


IndicatorName: Proportion of population pushed below the 60% median consumption poverty line by out-of-pocket health expenditure (%)

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the fraction of a country’s population experiencing out-of-pocket health impoverishing expenditures, defined as expenditures without which the household they live in would have been above the 60% median consumption but because of the expenditures is below the poverty line. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing health spending, 60% of median (%)


Longdefinition: Number of people spending more than 10% of household consumption or income on out-of-pocket health care expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Catastrophic Health Expenditure, 10% of total expenditure/income


Generalcomments: This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.8.2[https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

IndicatorName: Proportion of population spending more than 10% of household consumption or income on out-of-pocket health care expenditure (%)

Longdefinition: Proportion of population spending more than 10% of household consumption or income on out-of-pocket health care expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Catastrophic Health Expenditure, 10% of total expenditure/income (%)


Longdefinition: Number of people spending more than 25% of household consumption or income on out-of-pocket health care expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Catastrophic Health Expenditure, 25% of total expenditure/income (thousands)


IndicatorName: Proportion of population spending more than 25% of household consumption or income on out-of-pocket health care expenditure (%)

Longdefinition: Proportion of population spending more than 25% of household consumption or income on out-of-pocket health care expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Catastrophic Health Expenditure, 25% of total expenditure/income (%)


Developmentrelevance: Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is about ensuring that all people can access the health services they need without facing financial hardship. It is key to improving the well-being of a country’s population. UHC is also an investment in human capital and a foundational driver of inclusive and sustainable economic growth and development. UHC is a target associated with the Sustainable Development Goals (target 3.8), and it relates directly to Goal 3 (Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages) and to Goal 1 (End poverty in all its forms everywhere).

Generalcomments: This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.8.1[https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

IndicatorName: UHC service coverage index

Longdefinition: Coverage index for essential health services (based on tracer interventions that include reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health, infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases and service capacity and access). It is presented on a scale of 0 to 100.

Notesfromoriginalsource: For the aggregated data, World Bank’s historical income classification that was based on data from each respective year was used.  For example, the FY2002 income classification based on the 2000 GNI per capita was used for the 2000 aggregates, the FY2007 income classification based on the 2005 GNI per capita was used for the 2005 aggregates, and so on.

Shortdefinition: UHC service coverage index

Source: Global Health Observatory. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023. (https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/themes/topics/service-coverage)

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: The Service Coverage Index used to track SDG 3.8.1 includes four indicator categories, namely (1) reproductive, manternal and newborn and child health, (2) infectious diseases, (3) non-communicable diseases and (4) service capacity and access. Each category contains several tracers. The index is constructed from geometric means of the tracer indicators; first, within each of the four categories, and then across the four category-specific means to obtain the final summary index. See Source for details about methodology.


IndicatorName: Number of people pushed or further pushed below the $2.15 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the number of people who are either (1) living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the $2.15 poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending or (2) live in households whose total expenditures are above the $2.15 poverty line but fall below the $2.15 poverty line when out-of-pocket health spending is subtracted from total expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing or further impoverishing health spending, 2.15$


IndicatorName: Proportion of population pushed or further pushed below the $2.15 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure (%)

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the fraction of a country's population who is either (1) living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the $2.15 poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending or (2) live in households whose total expenditures are above the $2.15 poverty line but fall below the $2.15 poverty line when out-of-pocket health spending is subtracted from total expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing or further impoverishing health spending, 2.15$ (%)


IndicatorName: Number of people pushed or further pushed below the $3.65 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the number of people who are either (1) living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the $3.65 poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending or (2) live in households whose total expenditures are above the $3.65 poverty line but fall below the $3.65 poverty line when out-of-pocket health spending is subtracted from total expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing or further impoverishing health spending, 3.65$


IndicatorName: Proportion of population pushed or further pushed below the $3.65 ($ 2017 PPP) poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure (%)

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the fraction of a country's population who is either (1) living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the $3.65 poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending or (2) live in households whose total expenditures are above the $3.65 poverty line but fall below the $3.65 poverty line when out-of-pocket health spending is subtracted from total expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing or further impoverishing health spending, 3.65$ (%)


IndicatorName: Number of people pushed or further pushed below the 60% median consumption poverty line by out-of-pocket health care expenditure

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the number of people who are either (1) living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the relative poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending or (2) live in households whose total expenditures are above the relative poverty line but fall below the relative poverty line when out-of-pocket health spending is subtracted from total expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing or further impoverishing health spending, 60% of median


IndicatorName: Proportion of population pushed or further pushed below the 60% median consumption poverty line by out-of-pocket health expenditure (%)

Longdefinition: This indicator shows the fraction of a country's population who is either (1) living in households whose non-health expenditures are already below the relative poverty line and who as a result are pushed further into poverty by their out-of-pocket health spending or (2) live in households whose total expenditures are above the relative poverty line but fall below the relative poverty line when out-of-pocket health spending is subtracted from total expenditure. Out-of-pocket health expenditure is defined as any spending incurred by a household when any member uses a health good or service to receive any type of care (preventive, curative, rehabilitative, long-term or palliative care); provided by any type of provider; for any type of disease, illness or health condition; in any type of setting (outpatient, inpatient, at home).

Shortdefinition: Impoverishing or further impoverishing health spending, 60% of median (%)


IndicatorName: Newborns protected against tetanus (%)

Longdefinition: Newborns protected against tetanus are the percentage of births by women of child-bearing age who are immunized against tetanus.

Source: WHO and UNICEF (http://www.who.int/immunization/monitoring_surveillance/en/).

Topic: Health: Reproductive health


Developmentrelevance: Strengthening health financing is one objective of Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG target 3.c).  The levels and trends of health expenditure data identify key issues such as weaknesses and strengths and areas that need investment, for instance additional health facilities, better health information systems, or better trained human resources.  Health financing is also critical for reaching universal health coverage (UHC) defined as all people obtaining the quality health services they need without suffering financial hardship (SDG 3.8).  The data on out-of-pocket spending is a key indicator with regard to financial protection and hence of progress towards UHC.

IndicatorName: Current health expenditure (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Level of current health expenditure expressed as a percentage of GDP.  Estimates of current health expenditures include healthcare goods and services consumed during each year. This indicator does not include capital health expenditures such as buildings, machinery, IT and stocks of vaccines for emergency or outbreaks.

Notesfromoriginalsource: The World Health Organization (WHO) has revised health expenditure data using the new international classification for health expenditures in the revised System of Health Accounts (SHA 2011).  WHO’s Global Health Expenditure Database in this new version is the reference source for health expenditure for international comparison imbedded in a standardized framework.  The SHA 2011 clarifies the financing mechanisms and introduces new dimensions which improve the comparability of health expenditures in the perspective of universal health coverage.

Source: World Health Organization Global Health Expenditure database (http://apps.who.int/nha/database). The data was retrieved on April 15, 2024.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: The health expenditure estimates have been prepared by the World Health Organization under the framework of the System of Health Accounts 2011 (SHA 2011).  The Health SHA 2011 tracks all health spending in a given country over a defined period of time regardless of the entity or institution that financed and managed that spending. It generates consistent and comprehensive data on health spending in a country, which in turn can contribute to evidence-based policy-making.

Topic: Health: Health systems


IndicatorName: Current health expenditure per capita (current US$)

Longdefinition: Current expenditures on health per capita in current US dollars. Estimates of current health expenditures include healthcare goods and services consumed during each year.


IndicatorName: Current health expenditure per capita, PPP (current international $)

Longdefinition: Current expenditures on health per capita expressed in international dollars at purchasing power parity.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: The health expenditure estimates have been prepared by the World Health Organization (WHO) under the framework of the System of Health Accounts 2011 (SHA 2011). The Health SHA 2011 tracks all health spending in a given country over a defined period of time regardless of the entity or institution that financed and managed that spending. It generates consistent and comprehensive data on health spending in a country, which in turn can contribute to evidence-based policy-making. WHO converted the expenditure data using PPP time series extracted from WDI (based on ICP 2017) and OECD data. Where WDI/OECD data were not available, IMF or WHO estimates were utilized. Detailed metadata are available at <https://apps.who.int/nha/database/Select/Indicators/en>.


IndicatorName: External health expenditure (% of current health expenditure)

Longdefinition: Share of current health expenditures funded from external sources. External sources compose of direct foreign transfers and foreign transfers distributed by government encompassing all financial inflows into the national health system from outside the country. External sources either flow through the government scheme or are channeled through non-governmental organizations or other schemes.


IndicatorName: External health expenditure channeled through government (% of external health expenditure)

Longdefinition: Share of external donor funding flowing through the government budgets relative to the overall external expenditures on health.

Source: Computed using World Health Organization Global Health Expenditure database (http://apps.who.int/nha/database). The data was retrieved on April 15, 2024.


IndicatorName: External health expenditure per capita (current US$)

Longdefinition: Current external expenditures on health per capita expressed in current US dollars. External sources are composed of direct foreign transfers and foreign transfers distributed by government encompassing all financial inflows into the national health system from outside the country.


IndicatorName: External health expenditure per capita, PPP (current international $)

Longdefinition: Current external expenditures on health per capita expressed in international dollars at purchasing power parity. External sources are composed of direct foreign transfers and foreign transfers distributed by government encompassing all financial inflows into the national health system from outside the country.


IndicatorName: Domestic general government health expenditure (% of current health expenditure)

Longdefinition: Share of current health expenditures funded from domestic public sources for health.  Domestic public sources include domestic revenue as internal transfers and grants, transfers, subsidies to voluntary health insurance beneficiaries, non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) or enterprise financing schemes as well as compulsory prepayment and social health insurance contributions. They do not include external resources spent by governments on health.


IndicatorName: Domestic general government health expenditure (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Public expenditure on health from domestic sources as a share of the economy as measured by GDP.


IndicatorName: Domestic general government health expenditure (% of general government expenditure)

Longdefinition: Public expenditure on health from domestic sources as a share of total public expenditure.  It indicates the priority of the government to spend on health from own domestic public resources.


IndicatorName: Domestic general government health expenditure per capita (current US$)

Longdefinition: Public expenditure on health from domestic sources per capita expressed in current US dollars.


IndicatorName: Domestic general government health expenditure per capita, PPP (current international $)

Longdefinition: Public expenditure on health from domestic sources per capita expressed in international dollars at purchasing power parity.


IndicatorName: Capital health expenditure (% of GDP)

Longdefinition: Level of capital investments on health expressed as a percentage of GDP.  Capital health investments include health infrastructure (buildings, machinery, IT) and stocks of vaccines for emergency or outbreaks.


IndicatorName: Out-of-pocket expenditure (% of current health expenditure)

Longdefinition: Share of out-of-pocket payments of total current health expenditures.  Out-of-pocket payments are spending on health directly out-of-pocket by households.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The health expenditure estimates have been prepared by the World Health Organization under the framework of the System of Health Accounts 2011 (SHA 2011).  The Health SHA 2011 tracks all health spending in a given country over a defined period of time regardless of the entity or institution that financed and managed that spending. It generates consistent and comprehensive data on health spending in a country, which in turn can contribute to evidence-based policy-making.

Aggregations are weighted by total current health expenditure (not by population).


IndicatorName: Out-of-pocket expenditure per capita (current US$)

Longdefinition: Health expenditure through out-of-pocket payments per capita in USD.  Out of pocket payments are spending on health directly out of pocket by households in each country.


IndicatorName: Out-of-pocket expenditure per capita, PPP (current international $)

Longdefinition: Health expenditure through out-of-pocket payments per capita in international dollars at purchasing power parity.


IndicatorName: Domestic private health expenditure (% of current health expenditure)

Longdefinition: Share of current health expenditures funded from domestic private sources.  Domestic private sources include funds from households, corporations and non-profit organizations. Such expenditures can be either prepaid to voluntary health insurance or paid directly to healthcare providers.


IndicatorName: Domestic private health expenditure per capita (current US$)

Longdefinition: Current private expenditures on health per capita expressed in current US dollars. Domestic private sources include funds from households, corporations and non-profit organizations. Such expenditures can be either prepaid to voluntary health insurance or paid directly to healthcare providers.


IndicatorName: Domestic private health expenditure per capita, PPP (current international $)

Longdefinition: Current private expenditures on health per capita expressed in international dollars at purchasing power parity.


Developmentrelevance: The poverty rate as defined by national poverty lines reflects the share of the population that fails to meet the standard a country thinks is necessarty to cover basic needs.

Generalcomments: This series only includes estimates that to the best of our knowledge are reasonably comparable over time for a country. Due to differences in estimation methodologies and poverty lines, estimates should not be compared across countries.

IndicatorName: Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population)

Longdefinition: National poverty headcount ratio is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty line(s). National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys. For economies for which the data are from EU-SILC, the reported year is the income reference year, which is the year before the survey year.

Relatedsourcelinks: World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform: https://pip.worldbank.org/

Source: World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are compiled from official government sources or are computed by World Bank staff using national (i.e. country–specific) poverty lines.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Poverty headcount ratio among the population is measured based on national (i.e. country-specific) poverty lines. A country may have a unique national poverty line or separate poverty lines for rural and urban areas, or for different geographic areas to reflect differences in the cost of living or sometimes to reflect differences in diets and consumption baskets.

Poverty estimates at national poverty lines are computed from household survey data collected from nationally representative samples of households. These data must contain sufficiently detailed information to compute a comprehensive estimate of total household income or consumption (including consumption or income from own production), from which it is possible to construct a correctly weighted distribution of per capita consumption or income.

National poverty lines are the benchmark for estimating poverty indicators that are consistent with the country's specific economic and social circumstances. National poverty lines reflect local perceptions of the level and composition of consumption or income needed to be non-poor. The perceived boundary between poor and non-poor typically rises with the average income of a country and thus does not provide a uniform measure for comparing poverty rates across countries. While poverty rates at national poverty lines should not be used for comparing poverty rates across countries, they are appropriate for guiding and monitoring the results of country-specific national poverty reduction strategies.

Almost all national poverty lines in developing economies are anchored to the cost of a food bundle - based on the prevailing national diet of the poor - that provides adequate nutrition for good health and normal activity, plus an allowance for nonfood spending. National poverty lines must be adjusted for inflation between survey years to remain constant in real terms and thus allow for meaningful comparisons of poverty over time. Because diets and consumption baskets change over time, countries periodically recalculate the poverty line based on new survey data. In such cases the new poverty lines should be deflated to obtain comparable poverty estimates from earlier years.

This series only includes estimates that to the best of our knowledge are reasonably comparable over time for a country. For economies for which the data are from EU-SILC, the reported year is the income reference year, which is the year before the survey year. For all other economies, the year reported is the year in which the underlying household survey data were collected or, when the data collection period bridged two calendar years, the year in which data collection started.

Topic: Poverty: Poverty rates


IndicatorName: Rural poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of rural population)

Longdefinition: Rural poverty headcount ratio is the percentage of the rural population living below the national poverty lines.

Source: World Bank, Global Poverty Working Group. Data are compiled from official government sources or are computed by World Bank staff using national (i.e. country–specific) poverty lines.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Poverty headcount ratio among the rural population is measured based on national (i.e. country-specific) poverty lines. A country may have a unique national poverty line or separate poverty lines for rural and urban areas, or for different geographic areas to reflect differences in the cost of living or sometimes to reflect differences in diets and consumption baskets.

Poverty estimates at national poverty lines are computed from household survey data collected from nationally representative samples of households. These data must contain sufficiently detailed information to compute a comprehensive estimate of total household income or consumption (including consumption or income from own production), from which it is possible to construct a correctly weighted distribution of per capita consumption or income.

National poverty lines are the benchmark for estimating poverty indicators that are consistent with the country's specific economic and social circumstances. National poverty lines reflect local perceptions of the level and composition of consumption or income needed to be non-poor. The perceived boundary between poor and non-poor typically rises with the average income of a country and thus does not provide a uniform measure for comparing poverty rates across countries. While poverty rates at national poverty lines should not be used for comparing poverty rates across countries, they are appropriate for guiding and monitoring the results of country-specific national poverty reduction strategies.

Almost all national poverty lines are anchored to the cost of a food bundle - based on the prevailing national diet of the poor - that provides adequate nutrition for good health and normal activity, plus an allowance for nonfood spending. National poverty lines must be adjusted for inflation between survey years to remain constant in real terms and thus allow for meaningful comparisons of poverty over time. Because diets and consumption baskets change over time, countries periodically recalculate the poverty line based on new survey data. In such cases the new poverty lines should be deflated to obtain comparable poverty estimates from earlier years. The data is based on the two most recent years for which survey data are available.

Survey year is the year in which the underlying household survey data were collected or, when the data collection period bridged two calendar years, the year in which most of the data were collected.


IndicatorName: Urban poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of urban population)

Longdefinition: Urban poverty headcount ratio is the percentage of the urban population living below the national poverty lines.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Poverty headcount ratio among the urban population is measured based on national (i.e. country-specific) poverty lines. A country may have a unique national poverty line or separate poverty lines for rural and urban areas, or for different geographic areas to reflect differences in the cost of living or sometimes to reflect differences in diets and consumption baskets.

Poverty estimates at national poverty lines are computed from household survey data collected from nationally representative samples of households. These data must contain sufficiently detailed information to compute a comprehensive estimate of total household income or consumption (including consumption or income from own production), from which it is possible to construct a correctly weighted distribution of per capita consumption or income.

National poverty lines are the benchmark for estimating poverty indicators that are consistent with the country's specific economic and social circumstances. National poverty lines reflect local perceptions of the level and composition of consumption or income needed to be non-poor. The perceived boundary between poor and non-poor typically rises with the average income of a country and thus does not provide a uniform measure for comparing poverty rates across countries. While poverty rates at national poverty lines should not be used for comparing poverty rates across countries, they are appropriate for guiding and monitoring the results of country-specific national poverty reduction strategies.

Almost all national poverty lines are anchored to the cost of a food bundle - based on the prevailing national diet of the poor - that provides adequate nutrition for good health and normal activity, plus an allowance for nonfood spending. National poverty lines must be adjusted for inflation between survey years to remain constant in real terms and thus allow for meaningful comparisons of poverty over time. Because diets and consumption baskets change over time, countries periodically recalculate the poverty line based on new survey data. In such cases the new poverty lines should be deflated to obtain comparable poverty estimates from earlier years. The data is based on the two most recent years for which survey data are available.

Survey year is the year in which the underlying household survey data were collected or, when the data collection period bridged two calendar years, the year in which most of the data were collected.


Developmentrelevance:
Data on women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector show the extent to which women have access to paid employment - which affects their integration into the monetary economy - and indicate the degree to which labor markets are open to women in industry and services - which affects not only equal employment opportunity for women, but also economic efficiency through flexibility of the labor market and the economy's capacity to adapt to changes over time.

In many developing countries nonagricultural wage employment accounts for only a small portion of total employment. As a result, the contribution of women to the national economy is underestimated and therefore misrepresented. The indicator is difficult to interpret without additional information on the share of women in total employment, which allows an assessment to be made of whether women are under- or overrepresented in nonagricultural wage employment. The indicator does not reveal differences in the quality of nonagricultural wage employment in terms of earnings, work conditions, or legal and social protection. The indicator also does not reflect whether women reap the economic benefits of such employment. Finally, female employment and the employment share of the agricultural sector for both men and women tend to be underreported.

Women's wage work is important for economic growth and the well-being of families. But women often face such obstacles as restricted access to credit markets, capital, land, and training and education; time constraints due to traditional family responsibilities; and labor market bias and discrimination. These obstacles force women to limit their full participation in paid economic activities, to be less productive, and to receive lower wages.

Generalcomments: Relevance to gender indicator: Women’s share in paid employment in the nonagricultural sector has risen marginally in some regions but remains less than 20 percent in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Women are also clearly segregated in sectors that are generally known to be lower paid. And in the sectors where women dominate, such as health care, women rarely hold upper-level management jobs.

IndicatorName: Share of women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector (% of total nonagricultural employment)

Limitationsandexceptions:
There are many differences in how countries define and measure employment status, particularly members of the armed forces, self-employed workers, and unpaid family workers. Where members of the armed forces are included, they are allocated to the service sector, causing that sector to be somewhat overstated relative to the service sector in economies where they are excluded. Where data are obtained from establishment surveys, data cover only employees; thus self-employed and unpaid family workers are excluded. In such cases the employment share of the agricultural sector is severely underreported. Caution should be also used where the data refer only to urban areas, which record little or no agricultural work. Moreover, the age group and area covered could differ by country or change over time within a country. For detailed information, consult the original source.

Countries also take different approaches to the treatment of unemployed people. In most countries unemployed people with previous job experience are classified according to their last job. But in some countries the unemployed and people seeking their first job are not classifiable by economic activity. Because of these differences, the size and distribution of employment by economic activity may not be fully comparable across countries.

The reference period of a census or survey is another important source of differences: in some countries data refer to people's status on the day of the census or survey or during a specific period before the inquiry date, while in others data are recorded without reference to any period. In developing countries, where the household is often the basic unit of production and all members contribute to output, but some at low intensity or irregularly, the estimated labor force may be much smaller than the numbers actually working.

Longdefinition: Share of women in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector is the share of female workers in wage employment in the nonagricultural sector (industry and services), expressed as a percentage of total employment in the nonagricultural sector. Industry includes mining and quarrying (including oil production), manufacturing, construction, electricity, gas, and water, corresponding to divisions 2-5 (ISIC revision 2) or tabulation categories C-F (ISIC revision 3). Services include wholesale and retail trade and restaurants and hotels; transport, storage, and communications; financing, insurance, real estate, and business services; and community, social, and personal services-corresponding to divisions 6-9 (ISIC revision 2) or tabulation categories G-Q (ISIC revision 3).

Source: International Labour Organization.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Employment is defined as persons above a specified age who performed any work at all, in the reference period, for pay or profit (or pay in kind), or were temporarily absent from a job for such reasons as illness, maternity or parental leave, holiday, training or industrial dispute. Unpaid family workers who work for at least one hour should be included in the count of employment, although many countries use a higher hour limit in their definition.

Labor force statistics by gender is important to monitor gender disparities in employment patterns. Estimates of women in the labor force and employment are generally lower than those of men and are not comparable internationally, reflecting that demographic, social, legal, and cultural trends and norms determine whether women's activities are regarded as economic.

Topic: Social Protection & Labor: Economic activity


IndicatorName: Labor force, female (% of total labor force)

Longdefinition: Female labor force as a percentage of the total show the extent to which women are active in the labor force. Labor force comprises people ages 15 and older who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period.

Notesfromoriginalsource: Given the exceptional situation, including the scarcity of relevant data, the  ILO modeled estimates and projections from 2020 onwards are subject to substantial uncertainty.

Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators database. Estimates are based on data obtained from International Labour Organization and United Nations Population Division.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The standard definition of unemployed persons is those individuals without work, seeking work in a recent past period, and currently available for work, including people who have lost their jobs or voluntarily left work. In addition, persons who did not look for work but have an arrangement for a future job are also counted as unemployed. Still, some unemployment is unavoidable—at any time, some workers are temporarily unemployed between jobs as employers look for the right workers and workers search for better jobs. The labor force or the economically active portion of the population serves as the base for this indicator, not the total population.

Estimates are based on labor force participation rates and population data from International Labour Organization and United Nations Population Division. The labor force participation rates are part of the "ILO modeled estimates database," including nationally reported observations and imputed data for countries with missing data, primarily to capture regional and global trends with consistent country coverage. Country-reported microdata is based mainly on nationally representative labor force surveys, with other sources (e.g., household surveys and population censuses) considering differences in the data source, the scope of coverage, methodology, and other country-specific factors. Country analysis requires caution where limited nationally reported data are available. A series of models are also applied to impute missing observations and make projections. However, imputed observations are not based on national data, are subject to high uncertainty, and should not be used for country comparisons or rankings. For more information: https://ilostat.ilo.org/resources/concepts-and-definitions/ilo-modelled-estimates/

Topic: Social Protection & Labor: Labor force structure


IndicatorName: Labor force, total

Longdefinition: Labor force comprises people ages 15 and older who supply labor for the production of goods and services during a specified period. It includes people who are currently employed and people who are unemployed but seeking work as well as first-time job-seekers. Not everyone who works is included, however. Unpaid workers, family workers, and students are often omitted, and some countries do not count members of the armed forces. Labor force size tends to vary during the year as seasonal workers enter and leave.


Developmentrelevance:
Paradoxically, low unemployment rates can disguise substantial poverty in a country, while high unemployment rates can occur in countries with a high level of economic development and low rates of poverty. In countries without unemployment or welfare benefits people eke out a living in vulnerable employment. In countries with well-developed safety nets workers can afford to wait for suitable or desirable jobs. But high and sustained unemployment indicates serious inefficiencies in resource allocation.

Youth unemployment is an important policy issue for many economies. Young men and women today face increasing uncertainty in their hopes of undergoing a satisfactory transition in the labour market, and this uncertainty and disillusionment can, in turn, have damaging effects on individuals, communities, economies and society at large. Unemployed or underemployed youth are less able to contribute effectively to national development and have fewer opportunities to exercise their rights as citizens. They have less to spend as consumers, less to invest as savers and often have no "voice" to bring about change in their lives and communities. Widespread youth unemployment and underemployment also prevents companies and countries from innovating and developing competitive advantages based on human capital investment, thus undermining future prospects.

Unemployment is a key measure to monitor whether a country is on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all. [SDG Indicator 8.5.2]

Generalcomments: National estimates are also available in the WDI database. Caution should be used when comparing ILO estimates with national estimates.

IndicatorName: Unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)

Limitationsandexceptions:
The criteria for people considered to be seeking work, and the treatment of people temporarily laid off or seeking work for the first time, vary across countries. In many cases it is especially difficult to measure employment and unemployment in agriculture. The timing of a survey can maximize the effects of seasonal unemployment in agriculture. And informal sector employment is difficult to quantify where informal activities are not tracked.

There may be also persons not currently in the labour market who want to work but do not actively "seek" work because they view job opportunities as limited, or because they have restricted labour mobility, or face discrimination, or structural, social or cultural barriers. The exclusion of people who want to work but are not seeking work (often called the "hidden unemployed" or "discouraged workers") is a criterion that will affect the unemployment count of both women and men.

However, women tend to be excluded from the count for various reasons. Women suffer more from discrimination and from structural, social, and cultural barriers that impede them from seeking work. Also, women are often responsible for the care of children and the elderly and for household affairs. They may not be available for work during the short reference period, as they need to make arrangements before starting work. Further, women are considered to be employed when they are working part-time or in temporary jobs, despite the instability of these jobs or their active search for more secure employment.

Longdefinition: Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment.

Source: International Labour Organization. “ILO Modelled Estimates and Projections database (ILOEST)” ILOSTAT. Accessed June 18, 2024. https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The standard definition of unemployed persons is those individuals without work, seeking work in a recent past period, and currently available for work, including people who have lost their jobs or voluntarily left work. In addition, persons who did not look for work but have an arrangement for a future job are also counted as unemployed. Still, some unemployment is unavoidable—at any time, some workers are temporarily unemployed between jobs as employers look for the right workers and workers search for better jobs. The labor force or the economically active portion of the population serves as the base for this indicator, not the total population.

The series is part of the "ILO modeled estimates database," including nationally reported observations and imputed data for countries with missing data, primarily to capture regional and global trends with consistent country coverage. Country-reported microdata is based mainly on nationally representative labor force surveys, with other sources (e.g., household surveys and population censuses) considering differences in the data source, the scope of coverage, methodology, and other country-specific factors. Country analysis requires caution where limited nationally reported data are available. A series of models are also applied to impute missing observations and make projections. However, imputed observations are not based on national data, are subject to high uncertainty, and should not be used for country comparisons or rankings. For more information: https://ilostat.ilo.org/resources/concepts-and-definitions/ilo-modelled-estimates/

Topic: Social Protection & Labor: Unemployment


IndicatorName: Unemployment, male (% of male labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)


IndicatorName: Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (modeled ILO estimate)


Developmentrelevance:
Movement of people, most often through migration, is a significant part of global integration. Migrants contribute to the economies of both their host country and their country of origin. Yet reliable statistics on migration are difficult to collect and are often incomplete, making international comparisons a challenge.

Global migration patterns have become increasingly complex in modern times, involving not just refugees, but also millions of economic migrants. In most developed countries, refugees are admitted for resettlement and are routinely included in population counts by censuses or population registers.

But refugees and migrants, even if they often travel in the same way, are fundamentally different, and for that reason are treated very differently under modern international law. Migrants, especially economic migrants, choose to move in order to improve the future prospects of themselves and their families. Refugees have to move if they are to save their lives or preserve their freedom.

IndicatorName: Net migration

Limitationsandexceptions: International migration is the component of population change most difficult to measure and estimate reliably. Thus, the quality and quantity of the data used in the estimation and projection of net migration varies considerably by country. Furthermore, the movement of people across international boundaries, which is very often a response to changing socio-economic, political and environmental forces, is subject to a great deal of volatility. Refugee movements, for instance, may involve large numbers of people moving across boundaries in a short time. For these reasons, projections of future international migration levels are the least robust part of current population projections and reflect mainly a continuation of recent levels and trends in net migration.

Longdefinition: Net migration is the net total of migrants during the period, that is, the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants, including both citizens and noncitizens.

Shortdefinition: Net migration is the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants, including citizens and noncitizens.

Source: United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2024 Revision.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The United Nations Population Division provides data on net migration and migrant stock. Because data on migrant stock is difficult for countries to collect, the United Nations Population Division takes into account the past migration history of a country or area, the migration policy of a country, and the influx of refugees in recent periods when deriving estimates of net migration. The data to calculate these estimates come from a variety of sources, including border statistics, administrative records, surveys, and censuses.

When there is insufficient data, net migration is derived through the difference between the overall population growth rate and the rate of natural increase (the difference between the birth rate and the death rate) during the same period. Such calculations are usually made for intercensal periods. The estimates are also derived from the data on foreign-born population - people who have residence in one country but were born in another country. When data on the foreign-born population are not available, data on foreign population - that is, people who are citizens of a country other than the country in which they reside - are used as estimates.

Topic: Social Protection & Labor: Migration


Generalcomments: This indicator is related to Sustainable Development Goal 2.1.1 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

IndicatorName: Number of people who are undernourished

Longdefinition: Number of people who are undernourished shows the number of people whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy levels that are required to maintain a normal active and healthy life.

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization (http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home).

Topic: Health: Nutrition


Developmentrelevance: Good nutrition is the cornerstone for survival, health and development. Well-nourished children perform better in school, grow into healthy adults and in turn give their children a better start in life. Well-nourished women face fewer risks during pregnancy and childbirth, and their children set off on firmer developmental paths, both physically and mentally (UNICEF www.childinfo.org).

Generalcomments: This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 2.1.1[https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

IndicatorName: Prevalence of undernourishment (% of population)

Limitationsandexceptions: From a policy and program standpoint, this measure has its limits. First, food insecurity exists even where food availability is not a problem because of inadequate access of poor households to food. Second, food insecurity is an individual or household phenomenon, and the average food available to each person, even corrected for possible effects of low income, is not a good predictor of food insecurity among the population. And third, nutrition security is determined not only by food security but also by the quality of care of mothers and children and the quality of the household's health environment (Smith and Haddad 2000).

Longdefinition: Prevalence of undernourishments is the percentage of the population whose habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the dietary energy levels that are required to maintain a normal active and healthy life. Data showing as 2.5 may signify a prevalence of undernourishment below 2.5%.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Data on undernourishment are from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and measure food deprivation based on average food available for human consumption per person, the level of inequality in access to food, and the minimum calories required for an average person.


Developmentrelevance:
Iodine deficiency can lead to a variety of health and developmental consequences known as iodine deficiency disorders (IDDs). Iodine deficiency is a major cause of preventable mental retardation. It is especially damaging during pregnancy and in early childhood. In their most severe forms, IDDs can lead to cretinism, stillbirth and miscarriage; even mild deficiency can cause a significant loss of learning ability.  Thus, it is crucially important that pregnant women and young children in particular get adequate levels of iodine.
IDD can easily be prevented at low cost, however, with small quantities of iodine. One of the best and least expensive methods of preventing iodine deficiency disorder is by simply iodizing table salt, which is currently done in many countries. It represents one of the easiest and most cost-effective interventions for social and economic development.

Generalcomments: Iodine deficiency is the single most important cause of preventable mental retardation, contributes significantly to the risk of stillbirth and miscarriage, and increases the incidence of infant mortality. A diet low in iodine is the main cause of iodine deficiency. It usually occurs among populations living in areas where the soil has been depleted of iodine. If soil is deficient in iodine, then so are the plants grown in it, including the grains and vegetables that people and animals consume. There are almost no countries in the world where iodine deficiency has not been a public health problem. Many newborns in low- and middle-income countries remain unprotected from the lifelong consequences of brain damage associated with iodine deficiency disorders, which affect a child's ability to learn and to earn a living as an adult, and in turn prevents children, communities, and countries from fulfilling their potential (UNICEF, www.childinfo.org). Widely used and inexpensive, iodized salt is the best source of iodine, and a global campaign to iodize edible salt is significantly reducing the risks associated with iodine deficiency.

IndicatorName: Consumption of iodized salt (% of households)

Longdefinition: Percentage of households which have salt they used for cooking that tested positive (>0ppm) for presence of iodine.

Source: United Nations Children's Fund, Division of Data, Analysis, Planning and Monitoring (2019). UNICEF Global Databases on Iodized salt, New York, June 2019

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Most of the data on consumption of iodized salt are derived from household surveys. For the data that are from household surveys, the year refers to the survey year.


Generalcomments: Vitamin A is essential for optimal functioning of the immune system. Vitamin A deficiency, a leading cause of blindness, also causes a greater risk of dying from a range of childhood ailments such as measles, malaria, and diarrhea. In low- and middle-income countries, where vitamin A is consumed largely in fruits and vegetables, daily per capita intake is often insufficient to meet dietary requirements. Providing young children with two high-dose vitamin A capsules a year is a safe, cost-effective, efficient strategy for eliminating vitamin A deficiency and improving child survival. Giving vitamin A to new breastfeeding mothers helps protect their children during the first few months of life. Food fortification with vitamin A is being introduced in many developing countries.

IndicatorName: Vitamin A supplementation coverage rate (% of children ages 6-59 months)

Longdefinition: Vitamin A supplementation coverage rate refers to the percentage of children ages 6-59 months old receiving two high-dose vitamin A supplements in a calendar year.

Notesfromoriginalsource: Only UNICEF's current vitamin A supplementation priority countries for national level programmes are included.

Source: UNICEF global databases, based on administrative reports from countries (link: https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/vitamin-a-deficiency/)


Generalcomments: This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.7.2 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

IndicatorName: Adolescent fertility rate (births per 1,000 women ages 15-19)

Longdefinition: Adolescent fertility rate is the number of births per 1,000 women ages 15-19.

Source: United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Reproductive health is a state of physical and mental well-being in relation to the reproductive system and its functions and processes. Means of achieving reproductive health include education and services during pregnancy and childbirth, safe and effective contraception, and prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death and disability among women of reproductive age in developing countries.

Adolescent fertility rates are based on data on registered live births from vital registration systems or, in the absence of such systems, from censuses or sample surveys. The estimated rates are generally considered reliable measures of fertility in the recent past. Where no empirical information on age-specific fertility rates is available, a model is used to estimate the share of births to adolescents. For countries without vital registration systems fertility rates are generally based on extrapolations from trends observed in censuses or surveys from earlier years.


Developmentrelevance: Mortality rates for different age groups (infants, children, and adults) and overall mortality indicators (life expectancy at birth or survival to a given age) are important indicators of health status in a country. Because data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. And they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries.

IndicatorName: Mortality rate, adult, female (per 1,000 female adults)

Longdefinition: Adult mortality rate, female, is the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60--that is, the probability of a 15-year-old female dying before reaching age 60, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year between those ages.

Source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2022 Revision. (2) HMD. Human Mortality Database. Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Germany), University of California, Berkeley (USA), and French Institute for Demographic Studies (France). Available at www.mortality.org.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: The main sources of mortality data are vital registration systems and direct or indirect estimates based on sample surveys or censuses. A "complete" vital registration system - covering at least 90 percent of vital events in the population - is the best source of age-specific mortality data. Where reliable age-specific mortality data are available, life tables can be constructed from age-specific mortality data, and adult mortality rates can be calculated from life tables.

Topic: Health: Mortality


IndicatorName: Mortality rate, adult, male (per 1,000 male adults)

Longdefinition: Adult mortality rate, male, is the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60--that is, the probability of a 15-year-old male dying before reaching age 60, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year between those ages.


IndicatorName: Birth rate, crude (per 1,000 people)

Limitationsandexceptions: Vital registers are the preferred source for these data, but in many developing countries systems for registering births and deaths are absent or incomplete because of deficiencies in the coverage of events or geographic areas. Many developing countries carry out special household surveys that ask respondents about recent births and deaths. Estimates derived in this way are subject to sampling errors and recall errors.

Longdefinition: Crude birth rate indicates the number of live births occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.

Shortdefinition: Crude birth rate indicates the number of live births per 1,000 midyear population.

Source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2022 Revision; (2) Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices; (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics; (4) United Nations Statistics Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years).

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The crude birth rate is calculated as the number of births in a given period divided by the average population in that period. For human populations the period is usually one year and, if the population changes in size over the year, the divisor is taken as the population at the mid-year. The rate is usually expressed in terms of 1,000 people: for example, a crude birth rate of 9.5 (per 1000 people) in a population of 1 million would imply 9500 births per year in the entire population. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.

Vital rates are based on data from birth and death registration systems, censuses, and sample surveys by national statistical offices and other organizations, or on demographic analysis. Data for the most recent year for some high-income countries are provisional estimates based on vital registers. The estimates for many other countries are from the United Nations Population Division.

Topic: Health: Population: Dynamics


Developmentrelevance: The crude death rate is a good indicator of the general health status of a geographic area or population. The crude death rate is not appropriate for comparison of different populations or areas with large differences in age-distributions. Higher crude death rates can be found in some developed countries, despite high life expectancy, because typically these countries have a much higher proportion of older people, due to lower recent birth rates and lower age-specific mortality rates.

IndicatorName: Death rate, crude (per 1,000 people)

Longdefinition: Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.

Shortdefinition: Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths per 1,000 midyear population.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The crude death rate is calculated as the number of deaths in a given period divided by the population exposed to risk of death in that period. For human populations the period is usually one year and, if the population changes in size over the year, the divisor is taken as the population at the mid-year. The rate is usually expressed in terms of 1,000 people: for example, a crude death rate of 9.5 (per 1000 people) in a population of 1 million would imply 9500 deaths per year in the entire population. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.

Vital rates are based on data from birth and death registration systems, censuses, and sample surveys by national statistical offices and other organizations, or on demographic analysis. Data for the most recent year for some high-income countries are provisional estimates based on vital registers. The estimates for many other countries are from the United Nations Population Division.


Developmentrelevance:
Contraceptive prevalence among women of reproductive age is related to maternal and child health, as well as gender equality and HIV/AIDS.   Contraceptives enable women and men to make informed decisions on family planning – whether, when, and how many children they would have.

Preventing unwanted pregnancies is essential to reducing maternal deaths, especially in low- and middle- income countries where maternal mortality rate is high.  With effective contraception, life-threatening pregnancy complications can be reduced, and thus maternal deaths can be averted.

Using condoms (one of the modern contraceptive methods) can prevent pregnancy as well as sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

IndicatorName: Contraceptive prevalence, any modern method (% of all women ages 15-49)

Limitationsandexceptions:
While the data availability on contraceptive use has increased, in many countries the contraceptive use data are available only for married women.

The time frame used to assess contraceptive prevalence may vary. In many surveys, it is left to the respondent to determine what is meant by “currently using” a method of contraception.

Longdefinition: Contraceptive prevalence, any modern method is the percentage of all women ages 15-49 who are practicing, or whose sexual partners are practicing, at least one modern method of contraception.  Modern methods of contraception include female and male sterilization, oral hormonal pills, the intra-uterine device (IUD), the male condom, injectables, the implant (including Norplant), vaginal barrier methods, the female condom and emergency contraception.

Source: Household surveys, including Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. Largely compiled by United Nations Population Division.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Contraceptive prevalence rates are obtained mainly from nationally representative household surveys, including: Demographic and Health Surveys; Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys; Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys; Gender and Generations Survey; Reproductive Health Surveys; and World Fertility Surveys.  Additional information was provided by other international survey programs and national surveys.

All women refer to all women of reproductive age regardless of their marital status.


IndicatorName: Contraceptive prevalence, any modern method (% of sexually active unmarried women ages 15-49)

Limitationsandexceptions:
1. While the data availability on contraceptive use has increased, in many countries the contraceptive use data are available only for married women.

2. The time frame used to assess contraceptive prevalence may vary. In many surveys, it is left to the respondent to determine what is meant by “currently using” a method of contraception.

3. To calculate the aggregated data, the total number of women ages 15-49 is used as a weight, because data on number of sexually active unmarried women ages 15-49 are not widely available.

Longdefinition: Contraceptive prevalence, any modern method is the percentage of sexually active unmarried women ages 15-49 who are practicing, or whose sexual partners are practicing, at least one modern method of contraception.  Modern methods of contraception include female and male sterilization, oral hormonal pills, the intra-uterine device (IUD), the male condom, injectables, the implant (including Norplant), vaginal barrier methods, the female condom and emergency contraception.

Othernotes: As of December 2021, for better consistency the contraceptive prevalence data only for currently married women or in union are included in this indicator. It means the data for the following categories are excluded from this indicator: ever-married women; all women; sexually active women; which data may have been included in this indicator before December 2021. In response to this, two new contraceptive prevalence indicators (any method and any modern method) for sexually active unmarried women 15-49 are added to the WDI.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Contraceptive prevalence rates are obtained mainly from nationally representative household surveys, including: Demographic and Health Surveys; Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys; Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys; Gender and Generations Survey; Reproductive Health Surveys; and World Fertility Surveys.  Additional information was provided by other international survey programs and national surveys.

Sexually active unmarried women refer to unmarried women who are not pregnant or postpartum amenorrheic, and who had intercourse in the four weeks prior to the survey interview.


IndicatorName: Contraceptive prevalence, any modern method (% of married women ages 15-49)

Longdefinition: Contraceptive prevalence, any modern method is the percentage of married women ages 15-49 who are practicing, or whose sexual partners are practicing, at least one modern method of contraception.  Modern methods of contraception include female and male sterilization, oral hormonal pills, the intra-uterine device (IUD), the male condom, injectables, the implant (including Norplant), vaginal barrier methods, the female condom and emergency contraception.

Othernotes: As of December 2021, for better consistency the contraceptive prevalence data only for currently married women or in union are included in this indicator. It means the data for the following categories are excluded from this indicator: ever-married women; all women; sexually active women; which data may have been included in this indicator before December 2021. In response to this, two new contraceptive prevalence indicators (any method and any modern method) for sexually active unmarried women 15-49 are added to the HealthStats database. https://databank.worldbank.org/source/health-nutrition-and-population-statistics

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Contraceptive prevalence rates are obtained mainly from nationally representative household surveys, including: Demographic and Health Surveys; Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys; Contraceptive Prevalence Surveys; Gender and Generations Survey; Reproductive Health Surveys; and World Fertility Surveys.  Additional information was provided by other international survey programs and national surveys.

Married women refer to women who are married (defined in relation to the marriage laws or customs of a country) and to women in a union, which refers to women living with their partner in the same household (also referred to as cohabiting unions, consensual unions, unmarried unions, or “living together”).


IndicatorName: Contraceptive prevalence, any method (% of all women ages 15-49)

Longdefinition: Contraceptive prevalence, any method is the percentage of all women ages 15-49 who are practicing, or whose sexual partners are practicing, any method of contraception (modern or traditional). Modern methods of contraception include female and male sterilization, oral hormonal pills, the intra-uterine device (IUD), the male condom, injectables, the implant (including Norplant), vaginal barrier methods, the female condom and emergency contraception. Traditional methods of contraception include rhythm (e.g., fertility awareness based methods, periodic abstinence), withdrawal and other traditional methods.


IndicatorName: Contraceptive prevalence, any method (% of sexually active unmarried women ages 15-49)

Longdefinition: Contraceptive prevalence, any method is the percentage of sexually active unmarried women ages 15-49 who are practicing, or whose sexual partners are practicing, any method of contraception (modern or traditional). Modern methods of contraception include female and male sterilization, oral hormonal pills, the intra-uterine device (IUD), the male condom, injectables, the implant (including Norplant), vaginal barrier methods, the female condom and emergency contraception. Traditional methods of contraception include rhythm (e.g., fertility awareness based methods, periodic abstinence), withdrawal and other traditional methods.


IndicatorName: Contraceptive prevalence, any method (% of married women ages 15-49)

Longdefinition: Contraceptive prevalence, any method is the percentage of married women ages 15-49 who are practicing, or whose sexual partners are practicing, any method of contraception (modern or traditional). Modern methods of contraception include female and male sterilization, oral hormonal pills, the intra-uterine device (IUD), the male condom, injectables, the implant (including Norplant), vaginal barrier methods, the female condom and emergency contraception. Traditional methods of contraception include rhythm (e.g., fertility awareness based methods, periodic abstinence), withdrawal and other traditional methods.


Generalcomments:
Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys.

Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation.

IndicatorName: Mortality rate, infant, female (per 1,000 live births)

Limitationsandexceptions: Complete vital registration systems are fairly uncommon in developing countries. Thus estimates must be obtained from sample surveys or derived by applying indirect estimation techniques to registration, census, or survey data. Survey data are subject to recall error, and surveys estimating infant/child deaths require large samples because households in which a birth has occurred during a given year cannot ordinarily be preselected for sampling. Indirect estimates rely on model life tables that may be inappropriate for the population concerned. Extrapolations based on outdated surveys may not be reliable for monitoring changes in health status or for comparative analytical work.

Longdefinition: Infant mortality rate, female is the number of female infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 female live births in a given year.

Source: Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
The main sources of mortality data are vital registration systems and direct or indirect estimates based on sample surveys or censuses. A "complete" vital registration system - covering at least 90 percent of vital events in the population - is the best source of age-specific mortality data.

Estimates of neonatal, infant, and child mortality tend to vary by source and method for a given time and place. Years for available estimates also vary by country, making comparisons across countries and over time difficult. To make neonatal, infant, and child mortality estimates comparable and to ensure consistency across estimates by different agencies, the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME), which comprises the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the United Nations Population Division, and other universities and research institutes, developed and adopted a statistical method that uses all available information to reconcile differences. The method uses statistical models to obtain a best estimate trend line by fitting a country-specific regression model of mortality rates against their reference dates.


IndicatorName: Mortality rate, infant (per 1,000 live births)

Longdefinition: Infant mortality rate is the number of infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 live births in a given year.


IndicatorName: Mortality rate, infant, male (per 1,000 live births)

Longdefinition: Infant mortality rate, male is the number of male infants dying before reaching one year of age, per 1,000 male live births in a given year.


IndicatorName: Life expectancy at birth, female (years)

Longdefinition: Life expectancy at birth indicates the number of years a newborn infant would live if prevailing patterns of mortality at the time of its birth were to stay the same throughout its life.

Source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2022 Revision; (2) Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices; (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology:
Life expectancy at birth used here is the average number of years a newborn is expected to live if mortality patterns at the time of its birth remain constant in the future. It reflects the overall mortality level of a population, and summarizes the mortality pattern that prevails across all age groups in a given year. It is calculated in a period life table which provides a snapshot of a population's mortality pattern at a given time. It therefore does not reflect the mortality pattern that a person actually experiences during his/her life, which can be calculated in a cohort life table.

High mortality in young age groups significantly lowers the life expectancy at birth. But if a person survives his/her childhood of high mortality, he/she may live much longer. For example, in a population with a life expectancy at birth of 50, there may be few people dying at age 50. The life expectancy at birth may be low due to the high childhood mortality so that once a person survives his/her childhood, he/she may live much longer than 50 years.


IndicatorName: Life expectancy at birth, total (years)

Source: (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2022 Revision; or derived from male and female life expectancy at birth from sources such as: (2) Statistical databases and publications from national statistical offices; (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics.


IndicatorName: Life expectancy at birth, male (years)


IndicatorName: Mean age at first marriage, female

Limitationsandexceptions: The estimates by age may be affected by age misreporting. Marital status may be misreported, particularly in societies where divorce or separation is not socially acceptable. The differences in marital status categories included over time and their definitions limit comparability of data across time and countries. Data derived from surveys with small samples are subject to sampling error.

Longdefinition: Mean age at marriage, female shows the average length of single life expressed in years among those females who marry before age 50. It is a synthetic indicator calculated from marital status categories of men and women aged 15 to 54 at the census or survey date.

Notesfromoriginalsource: Note that the SMAM takes a single point in time and calculates the age at marriage from the marital status of the population aged between 15 and 50. This value is different from the mean age of marriage that is calculated from first marriage rates in a respective period (commonly used in countries with complete marriage registration systems) or cohort measures of entry into first marriage or union (based on retrospective survey questions on age at first marriage or union formation). The retrospective nature of the SMAM means that values are influenced by age and marital status specific mortality and migration.

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. World Marriage Data 2019.


IndicatorName: Mean age at first marriage, male

Longdefinition: Mean age at marriage, male shows the average length of single life expressed in years among those males who marry before age 50. It is a synthetic indicator calculated from marital status categories of men and women aged 15 to 54 at the census or survey date.

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. World Marriage Data.


Developmentrelevance: Reproductive health is a state of physical and mental well-being in relation to the reproductive system and its functions and processes. Means of achieving reproductive health include education and services during pregnancy and childbirth, safe and effective contraception, and prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Complications of pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death and disability among women of reproductive age in developing countries.

Generalcomments: Relevance to gender indicator: it can indicate the status of women within households and a woman’s decision about the number and spacing of children.

IndicatorName: Fertility rate, total (births per woman)

Longdefinition: Total fertility rate represents the number of children that would be born to a woman if she were to live to the end of her childbearing years and bear children in accordance with age-specific fertility rates of the specified year.

Statisticalconceptandmethodology: Total fertility rates are based on data on registered live births from vital registration systems or, in the absence of such systems, from censuses or sample surveys. The estimated rates are generally considered reliable measures of fertility in the recent past. Where no empirical information on age-specific fertility rates is available, a model is used to estimate the share of births to adolescents. For countries without reliable vital registration systems fertility rates are generally based on extrapolations from trends observed in censuses or surveys from earlier years.


IndicatorName: Survival to age 65, female (% of cohort)

Longdefinition: Survival to age 65 refers to the percentage of a cohort of newborn infants that would survive to age 65, if subject to age specific mortality rates of the specified year.


IndicatorName: Survival to age 65, male (% of cohort)


IndicatorName: Wanted fertility rate (births per woman)

Longdefinition: Wanted fertility rate is an estimate of what the total fertility rate would be if all unwanted births were avoided.

Source: Demographic and Health Surveys.


Developmentrelevance: The household is regarded as the fundamental social and economic unit of society. Transformation at the household form, therefore, has impact at the aggregate level of a country. An increasing number of female-headed households (FHHs) in developing countries are emerging as a result of economic changes, economic downturns and social pressures, rather than as a product of cultural patterns. In many developing countries of Asia and Latin American, there has been a significant increase in the percentage of FHHs. The majority of women in FHHs in developing countries are widowed, and to a lesser extent divorced or separated. In the developed countries most female-headed households consist of women who are never married or who are divorced. The feminization of poverty - the process whereby poverty becomes more concentrated among Individuals living in female-headed households - is a key concept for describing FHH social and economic levels.

Generalcomments: The composition of a household plays a role in the determining other characteristics of a household, such as how many children are sent to school and the distribution of family income.

IndicatorName: Female headed households (% of households with a female head)

Limitationsandexceptions: The definition of female-headed household differs greatly across countries, making cross-country comparison difficult. In some cases it is assumed that a woman cannot be the head of any household with an adult male, because of sex-biased stereotype. Caution should be used in interpreting the data.

Longdefinition: Female headed households shows the percentage of households with a female head.


Developmentrelevance: Although the legal age of marriage is defined as 18 years in most countries, the practice of child marriage remains widespread.  A women’s access to education and later her employment opportunities as well as the nature and terms of her work are often compromised by this practice.  Young married girls whose schooling is cut short often lack the knowledge and skills for formal work and are limited to occupations with lower incomes and inferior working conditions.  Sustainable Development Goal 5 commits to eliminate the practice of child marriage.

Generalcomments: This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 5.3.1[https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

IndicatorName: Women who were first married by age 15 (% of women ages 20-24)

Longdefinition: Women who were first married by age 15 refers to the percentage of women ages 20-24 who were first married by age 15.

Source: UNICEF Data; Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), AIDS Indicator Surveys(AIS), Reproductive Health Survey(RHS), and other household surveys.

Topic: Gender: Agency


IndicatorName: Women who were first married by age 18 (% of women ages 20-24)

Longdefinition: Women who were first married by age 18 refers to the percentage of women ages 20-24 who were first married by age 18.