Statistical Terms Glossary

Present value (PV) of debt as a percentage of exports (usually of goods and services) (X). In the context of the Paris Club and HIPC Initiative, sometimes present value is mis-described as net present value (NPV). In this context NPV/X has the same meaning as PV/X.

The practice of employing specialized private companies to check shipment details of goods ordered overseas — i.e. price, quantity, quality, etc.

A pressure—state—response framework is a framework proposed for environmental indicators and indicators of sustainable development.

A network installation consisting of pipes, fittings and other devices properly designed and installed to supply water under pressure from the source of the water to the irrigable area.

The preparatory survey carried out by participating countries prior to a price survey. Countries visit outlets, including those that will be visited during the actual price collection, to ascertain the availability, the comparability and the representativity of the products specified in a pre-survey questionnaire. Their responses to the pre-survey questionnaire are used to draw up the product list for the price survey.

(i) at the international level the standards, guidelines and recommendations of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and other officially adopted normative texts such as the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides and the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries; and (ii) at the national level measures based on these international texts or other measures based on scientific principles, risk assessment or the assessment of nutrient requirements.

The number of illnesses, accidents or sick persons in a given population and time, without distinction between new and old cases.

Percent of defined population with heart disease.

Prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg)-positive, adjusted for sampling design, per 100 000 population.

Percent of defined population with raised blood pressure (systolic blood pressure ≥ 140 OR diastolic blood pressure ≥ 90.

The estimated number of malaria cases per 1000 population.

Percent of defined population with respiratory disease.

Number of cases of tuberculosis (all forms) in a population at a given point in time (the middle of the calendar year), expressed as a rate per 100 000 population.

The number of people who develop a specific disease at a specific time for every 1,000 people at risk of infection.

Comprise services designed to enhance the health status of the population as distinct from the curative services which repair health dysfunction. Typical services are vaccination campaigns and programmes.

It is the place (if existing) where the person stayed for a minimum of six months before he moved to the current usual place of residence.

Debt that has been rescheduled on a prior occasion. This type of debt was generally excluded from further rescheduling in both the Paris and London Clubs until 1983. Since then, however, previously rescheduled debt has frequently been rescheduled again for countries facing acute payment difficulties.

Pre-vocational education is mainly designed to introduce participants to the world of work and to prepare them for entry into further vocational or technical programmes. Successful completion of such programmes does not lead to a labour-market relevant vocational or technical qualification.

A system for regulating the prices of a bundle of services of a regulated firm under which the individual price for each service is not controlled but there is a ceiling on the weighted average of all the prices in the bundle.

See: Cartel

Factors that, when applied to a related time series of values allows a valid comparison of the true underlying change free from the influence of price movements.