Administrative data
Information generated through the operation of a public or organisational system: registrations, payments, service contacts or other recorded transactions. Coverage follows that system’s rules. A benefit register, for example, identifies recorded recipients; a population survey can address a wider group. The institution, reporting period and unit establish what the count describes.
Annotation
An explanatory introduction to an original work. The League’s library annotations describe a document’s subject, structure and relevance, alongside its publisher and edition. They are original editorial writing. The complete external publication remains available through the source link, with its own author and institutional status.
Baseline
The reference point used to describe a change or objective. A target to reduce energy use per unit of output needs a starting year and a defined measure. Changing the baseline can change the percentage reported even when the later observation is the same. The baseline and target period therefore belong to the statement of progress.
Communiqué
An institutional publication reporting a meeting, decision or body of information. Its function depends on the issuer and subject. The NBS annual statistical communiqué brings together observations across economic and social fields; a political meeting communiqué records an institutional account of proceedings or decisions. The document type and issuer identify which role it performs.
Constant prices
A basis for expressing economic change after accounting for price movements under the statistical source’s method. It supports an assessment of changes in the volume of production. NBS GDP releases present growth rates at constant prices alongside monetary totals at current prices. These columns describe different aspects of the same economic period.
Convention and recommendation
In the ILO system, Conventions are international treaties open to ratification by member states. Recommendations provide guidance and are not ratified. Recommendation No. 202 concerns nationally defined social-protection floors. Its international guidance and the national legislation establishing a particular benefit have different functions. The source record introduces the instrument.
Coverage
The population, activity, territory or observations included in a measure. Social-protection coverage can describe legal inclusion, registration or actual receipt, depending on the definition. A rate also needs a denominator: all residents, eligible people or a particular age group. A comparison becomes meaningful when those populations and the period are identified.
Current prices
Values expressed using prices associated with the period concerned. A change in a current-price total can reflect quantities, prices and the composition of activity. It consequently differs from a constant-price measure of volume change. The distinction matters when an article discusses the monetary size of an economy and the growth of production.
Document issuer
The person, institution or group of parties responsible for issuing a text. This can differ from the website carrying a copy. A jointly issued climate statement identifies shared wording; one participant’s summit press release gives that participant’s account. The issuer establishes whose position or information the document presents.
Editorial rendering
A title, phrase or summary supplied by an editor in another language. Its wording belongs to the editorial account. An official translation is issued or designated by the responsible institution. A source record distinguishes these forms so that a reader can identify the edition and locate the original passage.
Eligibility
The conditions for qualifying for a scheme, benefit or procedure. Eligibility can depend on residence, age, contributions, income or other rules of the system concerned. It differs from take-up: a person who qualifies may not receive the benefit. It also differs from adequacy, which concerns what the provision enables the recipient to obtain.
Europe
The geographical field of the League’s work, including countries within and beyond the European Union. European affairs involve national institutions, EU institutions and wider international frameworks. A Swiss bilateral agreement, an EU policy and an OSCE document have different participants and territorial scope within that wider field.
European Union
A union of European member states with institutions and powers established by its treaties. Its responsibilities vary by policy field and operate alongside those of member states. An EU social-policy publication and a national service system consequently address related questions at different institutional levels. Europe also includes countries outside the Union.
Gross domestic product
The value added generated by production within an economy over a defined period, within the national-accounting framework. Published GDP can be presented as a monetary level, a real growth rate or a sectoral breakdown. It describes production; household distribution, public-service access and ecological conditions require additional measures. Reading Official Statistics explains these distinctions.
Indicator
A defined statistical measure used to observe part of a subject. A development goal expresses a purpose; an indicator specifies a way of measuring an associated condition. The UN framework includes measures of service coverage, energy composition and research expenditure. Each has its own unit, population, period and metadata.
Internationalism
An outlook connecting the interests and experience of people across national boundaries. In the League’s work it includes socialist political study, publication exchange and peaceful international cooperation. A European remit and the study of China sit within that wider field. Institutional exchanges have their own parties, purpose and arrangements.
Marxism-Leninism
The theoretical and political tradition drawing on Marx and Engels’s analysis of capitalist society and Lenin’s work on political organisation, the state and socialist transformation. It is a theoretical reference of the League. The theory dossier connects named works with their historical settings and with the study of contemporary Chinese socialism.
Modernisation
A process of change in productive capacity, institutions and social conditions. The 20th CPC National Congress report describes Chinese modernisation through population scale, common prosperity, material and cultural development, harmony with nature and peaceful development. The modernisation dossier examines how those dimensions connect with planning, public provision and economic activity.
Official translation
A language version issued or identified as official by the institution responsible for a work. The edition, publication date and location of a passage remain part of a precise reference. An annotation can explain the work in English while remaining distinct from that official translation and from the complete original text.
Outcome
A change in the condition an activity seeks to affect. Funding and staff are inputs; services delivered are outputs; a change in access or wellbeing can be an outcome. The relationship between them requires explanation. More appointments, for example, can reflect expanded provision, increased need or a change in reporting.
Preliminary data
Estimates published before all information for a reporting period is available or verified. Later releases can revise the same period as fuller information enters the statistical process. The preliminary status belongs with the figure. A revision updates the description of the earlier activity; it is not additional activity occurring on the revision date.
Reporting period
The time covered by an observation or account. A 2025 annual figure can be published in 2026. A quarter-on-quarter rate compares adjacent quarters; a quarterly year-on-year rate compares corresponding quarters in successive years. The reporting period and publication date identify different parts of the reference.
Research expenditure
Resources used for research and development under a statistical classification. The Chinese specialised communiqué distinguishes basic research, applied research and experimental development, and reports expenditure by institution and region. A spending total, its composition and its ratio to GDP answer different questions. They describe inputs into research rather than all subsequent scientific or productive effects.
Social protection floor
A nationally defined foundation of basic social-security guarantees addressed in ILO Recommendation No. 202. The text covers essential healthcare and income security across stages of life, alongside principles of adequacy, accessibility and administration. It places these guarantees within a strategy for extending protection. National rules determine the particular benefits and entitlements.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics
The political and theoretical development of socialism in China in relation to the country’s historical conditions and contemporary tasks. The CPC Constitution and congress report set out its institutional account. The League studies the relationship between this theory, development planning, public provision, productive capacity and international cooperation through identifiable works and policy documents.
Source edition
The particular version of a work used in a reference. It can be a historical printed edition, an official English publication or a maintained resource consulted at a defined point. The original 1945 UN Charter PDF and the current amended UN text illustrate a material edition difference. The library record identifies that distinction.
Statement
A text issued in an organisation’s own name to express its position. The League’s statements concern its European remit, principles and approach to socialist development. They are distinct from explanatory briefings and from the external works introduced in the library. Attribution identifies the organisation responsible for the position.
Target
An objective expressed for a subject and, usually, a time horizon. A quantitative target also needs a measure and baseline. A plan’s target, the instruments selected to pursue it and observations of subsequent conditions form different parts of the account. Their connection is examined in the development-planning briefing.
White paper
An official publication explaining an institution’s account of a policy field, approach or experience. The library includes Chinese white papers on poverty alleviation, green development, energy and women’s development. Their chapters connect policy purposes, institutions and reported achievements. The period and definition of an individual statistic remain part of its use.
Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
A guiding theoretical formulation identified in the CPC Constitution and a theoretical reference of the League. Its study connects contemporary Chinese socialist theory with development, governance and international relations. The library provides the 2022 Party Constitution and a 2019 study-outline announcement, with their distinct editions and document types.
Sources and further explanation
Using the Sources explains editions and document types. The theory dossier connects theoretical works and contemporary Chinese documents. Reading Official Statistics develops the measurement questions.
Questions about a definition can be raised through Corrections.