The designations employed and presentation of material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of any parties involved concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area, its authorities, its current or former official name or the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

For ease of statistical analysis, various country and regional grouping denominations are used which, although applicable at one particular time in the period of analysis concerned, may not reflect correct terminology at some other point in the current, historical or future context in which they are used. The use of such terminology is strictly for the purposes of statistical analysis.

In the case of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, these denominations are used both to refer to these countries as they currently exist and, when used with respect to data relating to before the existence of these countries as independent states, to the republics forming part of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

In the case of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, these denominations are used both to refer to these countries as they currently exist and, when used with respect to data relating before the existence of these countries as independent states, to the republics forming part of former Czechoslovakia or former Yugoslavia.

In the case of Germany, this denomination is used - unless otherwise indicated - to refer to this country as it currently exists and, when used with respect to data relating to before 3 October 1990, when the GDR acceded to the FRG, to both of these countries collectively.

The terminology 'EU28' is used to refer collectively to the 28 countries constituting the European Union from 1 July 2013, though much of the data presented here precedes that date.

The terminology 'EU15' is used to refer collectively to those 15 countries that comprised the European Union immediately before enlargement on 1 May 2004, whether or not all the countries concerned were members of the Union at the time the reference is used or whether or not the European Union even existed at the time.

The terminology 'EU13recent' is used to refer collectively to those 13 countries that acceded to the European Union either on 1 May 2004, namely Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, or on 1 January 2007, namely Bulgaria and Romania, or on 1 July 2013, namely Croatia.

The terminology 'Caucasia' is used to refer collectively to Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia . The terminology 'Central Asia' is used to refer collectively to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Data for these eight countries are not shown separately.

The designation of countries as 'developed' is intended for statistical convenience and does not necessarily express a judgment about the stage reached by a particular country in the development process. Following the regional classification used by the United Nations Department of Economic & Social Information & Policy Analysis, the 'developed' countries are taken to comprise those of Northern America, all regions of Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and all the countries which were part of the former USSR (United Nations, 1993).