Explanatory notes and help
Explanatory notes and help
General notes for interpreting data
Methods and definitions
A brief summary of the methodological and definitional basis for each of the main areas is to be found within each category area Links are provided to the detailed protocols and guidelines relating to each area that are held elsewhere on the EMCDDA website.
Unavailability of data
Countries reporting no data for the period or categories covered are not included in the respective tables. A blank cell in a table indicates that no data is available for a country for a specific year or category. Only countries reporting relevant data are included in a graphic, hence unavailability of data may be inferred from the absence of a country from the graphic or from the absence of plotted values for specific years or categories. In a small number of cases, unavailability of data is indicated explicitly.
Technical help
Formats used
Statistics are presented either as tables or figures. Most tables can be viewed directly on the screen and may also be downloaded in xml format. Tp view the XML file, you may find it useful to download first this XSLT file which will transform the xml into html. Some of the larger data tables in the bulletin, which may be difficult to view on screen, are presented directly in spreadsheet format (MS Excel).
Graphics are generally presented either in vector graphic format (Flash, which requires the Adobe Flash Player) or as static (gif) format. Where possible the underlying data is also provided in xml or excel format.