Definitions

Definition Description
Population Total population of a given country or region as of 1st January 2017, resp. 1st January 1990. For most countries this count represents the legal resident population in the country, including foreign citizens with a residence permit.
Natural increase The difference between the number of live births and deaths, in 2016, related to the exposure population (per 1,000 population).
Net migration estimate The difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants, in 2016, related to the exposure population (per 1,000 population). For most countries, official statistics are taken into account, but for some countries of Central and Eastern Europe data have been estimated.
Proportion of foreign born population Share of population born abroad and resident in the country in 2016 among all population, in percent.
Total population increase The total population growth or decline between 1990 and 2017, related to the actual population size in 1990.
Total fertility rate (TFR) The average number of children that would be born alive to a woman during her lifetime, if age-specific fertility rates of a given year remained constant during her childbearing lifetime. It is computed as the sum of fertility rates by age across all childbearing ages.
Tempo and parity adjusted TFR Alternative indicators to TFR have been developed in the search for a more accurate measure of the mean number of children per woman in a calendar year. Here we compare two such indicators: Tempo-adjusted TFR (TFR(BF)) proposed by Bongaarts and Feeney in 1998 and Tempo and Parity-adjusted Total Fertility (TFRp*) analysed by Bongaarts and Sobotka in 2012. These indicators estimate the TFR that would be reached in a given year if the age pattern of childbearing remained the same as in the previous year. For more details and references see the box on Tempo effect and adjusted indicators of total fertility For details on computation method for specific country see the file data sources.
Mean age at first birth The mean age of women at the birth of their first child, computed as the mean age (in years) from age-specific fertility rates of first birth order in a given year.
Completed cohort fertility The average number of children born alive to women born in the same year (i.e., a birth cohort) during their reproductive lives. Unlike the TFR, which is a hypothetical period indicator, completed fertility represents a measure of actual family size and is known only for women who have completed their childbearing. In this datasheet we show completed fertility of women born in 1976 (who were about 41 years old in 2017). As only a very small fraction of births take place after age 41(1.5 % in the EU in 2013), it is possible to estimate with a great accuracy the completed fertility rate for these women, using the most recent available data for 2016 as an estimate of their childbearing after age 41.
Cohort childlessness Proportion of women remaining childless, in percent. The values show the share of childless women among women born in 1976.
Life expectancy at birth Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a newborn, born in 2016, would live if current mortality trends were to continue.
Old-age dependency ratio The old-age dependency ratio relates the number of elderly people (defined as those aged 65 and above) to the number of people of working age (defined as people aged 20–64). The old-age dependency refers to dependency in terms of labor market participation, provision and receipt of net transfers, health care costs, and pension entitlements. It is expected to rise sharply in most countries over the next 40 years.
Healthy life years at birth The number of life years spent in good health, based on the data from the 2015 EU-SILC survey (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions).
Share with post-secondary education Proportion of population that finished post-secondary education (ISCED 4 category or higher), of given age group and gender.
Labour force participation rate Proportion of population that participate in labour force, of given age group, gender, and education.
Employment based dependency ratio The Employment based dependency ratio relates the number of persons who are not employed to the number of employed persons.
Aggregate life cycle deficit of the elderly population The aggregate Life Cycle Deficit (LCD) uses the difference between consumption and labour income as a measure of dependency. The aggregate LCD consists of two components: 1) the aggregate LCD of children, defined as the difference between consumption and labour income of the child population relative to total labour income, and 2) the aggregate LCD of the elderly, defined as the difference between consumption and labour income of the elderly population relative to total labour income.

Notes

The Datasheet does not feature European countries with population below 100 thousand (Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, and San Marino).

Some indicators for EU-28 and EU-27 and other regions are computed as weighted averages.

Data for Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine exclude territories that are not under government control.

Data on net migration have been estimated for some countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Definition of regions in the regional overview takes into account geographical, historical and geopolitical divisions, as well as similarity in demographic trends in countries they cover. Countries are grouped into regions as follows:

  • Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden);
  • Western Europe (Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, United Kingdom);
  • Germany, Austria, Switzerland;
  • Southern Europe (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain);
  • Central-Eastern Europe (Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia);
  • South-Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia);
  • Eastern Europe (Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine);
  • Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia).
Turkey is not included in any region.

European Union (28) refers to the current (2018) territory of 28 member states. European Union (27) refers to European Union without the United Kingdom. EU-15 refers to the EU member states prior to 2004; EU-13 (new members) covers countries accessing the EU in 2004, 2007 and 2013.