Concepts and terms associated with human and physical resources

Explanation of terms and concepts:

(1)    Concepts related to human
resources: population, birth rate,
death rate, natural increase, life
expectancy, infant
mortality rate, fertility rate,
migration, immigration,
emigration, net migration,
brain drain, urbanization

Population

The overall number of persons dwelling in a country, city, location, district or area

Birth rate

The birth rate is the overall number of births per 1000 of a population every year.

Death rate

This is the proportion of overall deaths to total population in a particular community or area over a specific time period.

Natural increase 

This is a population increase because of more births and less deaths.

Life Expectancy

This is the predictable (in the statistical terms) number of years of life remaining at a certain age for an individual.

Infant mortality rate

The proportion of the number of deaths in the first year of life in relation to  the number of live births occurring in the same population during the same year

Fertility rate

This is the proportion of live births in a location to the population of that location; shown per 1000 population per year

Migration

Migration is the permanent transfer of people from one area to another, within a country (internal migration) or from one country to another (external migration) for at least one year.

When a person departs a country, he or she is known as an emigrant. When the person comes in the other country, he or she is known as an immigrant. Internal migration can be from countryside to city areas (urban drift) and from city to countryside areas. External migration is frequently seen from less-developed countries to more-developed countries.

Net migration rate

This is the difference of immigrants and emigrants of a location for a time period, divided normally for every 1,000 inhabitants. A positive value indicates more people entering the country than leaving it; where as a negative value indicates more people going than coming in.

Brain drain

This is the extensive emigration of a large group of persons with technical skills or knowledge.

Urbanization

This is the process whereby there is an increasing proportion of a population living in cities and their borders. This development is often connected to industrialization and modernization, when large numbers of people depart countryside to work and live in cities.