key terms

• What is disability-adjusted life years?

  a measure of morbidity within a society. they measure the number of years of healthy life lost by being in a state of disability
• What is health?

  defined by the WHO as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
• what is morbidity?

  this relates to illness and disease. it can also be used to describe the incidence of a disease within a society. Some diseases are so infectious by law that they must be reported. Eg. Malaria, rubella and tuberculosis
• what is mortality?

  this relates to death. it can be measured by death rate, infant mortality case mortality and attack rate
• what is a non-communicable disease?


  a medical condition or disease that is by definition non-infectious and non-transmittable among young people.
• what is well being?

  the state of being comfortable, healthy or happy
• what is commercial farming?

  carried out so that the majority of produce is sold and the income generated can provide a livelihood for the farm workers as well as be invested back into the farm
• what is subsistence farming?

  the majority of the produce is consumed by the landowner and farm workers, a little surplus may be sold to buy other living requirements and / or be invested into the farm
• what is capital intensive farming?

  money is invested in soil improvement, machinery, buildings, pest control, high quality seeds or animals. there are few people employed and so output is high per hectare and per worker
• what is labor intensive farming?

  the number of farm workers is high, so there is a high output per hectare but a low output per worker
• what is extensive farming?

  carried out on a large scale over a large area. this varies greatly. there are areas where, although the labor force is low, there is a high capital input. others have a low labor force and rely on sheer amount of land
• what is demographic dividend?

  when more people are in the economically active section, less people in the young or old section.
• what is net migration?

  the balance between the immigration rate and emigration rate
• what is natural change?

  the difference between birth and death rates
• what is the crude birth rate?

  the number of births per 1000
• what is the crude death rate?

  the number of deaths per 1000
• what is the total fertility rate?

  the average number of children born per woman in an area or country
• what is the net replacement rate?

  the number of children each woman needs to have to maintain current population rates.
• what is an asylum seeker?

  a person who has fled their country of origin and applies for asylum under the 1951 convention on the grounds that they cannot return to their country of origin because of a well rounded fear of death or persecution. while they wait for a decision on their application to be concluded, they are known as an asylum seeker
• what is an economic migrant?

  a person who has voluntarily left their country of origin to seek, by lawful or unlawful means, employment in another country.
• what is a refugee?

  in its broader context, it means a person fleeing, for example, civil war or natural disaster but not necessarily fearing persecution as defined by the 1951 refugee convention. Legally however, a refugee is an asylum seeker whose application claim for asylum has been successful
• what is forced migration?

  when an individual or family have little to no choice but to move. often due to conflict, persecution or natural disaster, wars or lack of food.
• what is voluntary migration?

  when an individual or family chooses to move, based on factors at the origin and destination. this is often to improve their standard of living such as higher salary, warmer climate etc.