Word Definition Translation
abandon
to leave a place, especially because it is difficult or dangerous to
stay there.
accommodate to provide a place or room for someone to stay in.
adult
someone who is no longer a child and is legally responsible for
their actions.
afford
if you can afford something, you have enough money to be able
to pay for it. This word usually follows 'can', 'could', or 'be able
to'.
aged someone who is aged 18, 35, 70 etc is 18, 35, 70 etc years old.
amenity
something that makes it comfortable or enjoyable to live or work
somewhere.
antibiotic
a drug that cures illnesses and infections caused by bacteria.
Doctors often give people a course of antibiotics, when they have
to take a fixed amount of medicine each day for several days.
assimilate
to feel that you belong to the new community that you have
started to live in, or to make someone feel like this.
available able to be obtained, taken, or used.
average
the amount, level, standard etc that is typical of a group of
people or things.
basic
basic products and services are ones that everyone needs such as
food, medicine, and fuel.
birth rate the official number of births in a particular year or place.
blight
1 a serious disease affecting plants and crops.
2 something that damages or spoils something else.
breastfeed
to feed a baby with milk from your breasts rather than
bottle-feeding it.
built-up a built-up area has a lot of buildings in it.
bustee another spelling of basti - a slum
census
an occasion when government officials count all the people in a
country and record information about them.
childbearing the process of being pregnant and giving birth to children.
childhood the time of your life when you are a child.
citizen
someone who has the right to live permanently in a particular
country.
civil rights
the basic rights that all people in a society have, for example the
right to be treated fairly by the law.
colonize
to take control of another country by going to live there or by
sending people to live there.
commute to travel regularly to and from work.
concentration
a large number of people or things in one area or a large amount
of a particular thing.
conquer to take control of land or people using soldiers.
contagious
a contagious disease spreads from one person to another through
touch or through the air.
crowded containing a lot of people, especially too many.
Population
cure
a medicine or treatment that makes someone who is ill become
healthy.
death rate the number of deaths in a particular area in one year.
debt
the total amount of money that the government of a country
owes to banks and to other countries that it has borrowed from.
decline a reduction in the amount or quality of something.
decolonozation
the process by which a colony becomes independent from the
country that used to control it.
decrease
1 to become less.
2 to reduce something.
define to describe clearly and exactly what something is.
demand
the amount of a product or service that people want, or the fact
that they want it.
demographic relating to populations.
density the amount of something in a place.
dependency a country that is controlled by another country.
descendant a relative of a person who lived in the past.
diarrhoea
an illness in which you pass solid waste from your body too often
and in a liquid form.
dirty not clean
disaster
something very bad that happens and causes a lot of damage or
kills a lot of people.
distribution
the process of spreading something over an area or the way in
which it is spread.
diversity
the fact that very different people or things exist within a group
or place.
dysentery
a serious disease that affects your bowels and makes you go to
the toilet very frequently and become very weak.
elderly the elderly = old people.
emigrate to leave your country in order to live in another country.
equality
the state of being equal, especially in having the same rights,
status, and opportunities.
facility
something such as a room or piece of equipment that is provided
at a place for people to use.
family planning
the practice of controlling the number of children that you have
by using contraceptives (=drugs, objects, or methods that stop a
woman becoming pregnant).
famine
a serious lack of food that continues for a long time and causes
many people in a country to become ill or die.
favela
a poor area of a town in Brazil where the houses are in very bad
condition.
fertility a woman’s ability to have babies.
flourish to grow well and be healthy.
gender the fact of being either male or female.
growth an increase in the size, number, or development of something
health care the services that look after people’s health.
HIV
human immunodeficiency virus: a virus that can cause Aids and is
usually passed to someone else by having sex.
household income
the total money that all the people living in one home get from
working or from investing money.
illiterate someone who is illiterate cannot read or write.
immigration
the process in which people come to a country in order to live
there permanently.
increase to become larger in amount or number.
industrialization
the process of a country developing industries or making them
more modern.
infant mortality rate
the number of deaths of children under a year old in a particular
society. It is expressed as the number of deaths out of every
1,000 live births.
infrastructure
the set of systems within a place or organization that affect
how well it operates, for example the telephone and
transport systems in a country.
inhabitant a person or animal that lives in a particular place.
lack to not have any or enough of something you need or want.
life expectancy the length of time that someone is likely to live.
literacy the ability to read and write.
majority the age at which someone legally becomes an adult.
malnutrition
a medical condition in which you are weak or ill because
you do not eat enough or do not eat enough of the right
foods.
migration
the process by which people or animals migrate to another
place or country.
mixed-race involving people of different races.
nuclear family
a family unit that consists of a mother, a father, and their
children.
nutrition food considered as something that keeps you healthy.
overcrowded containing too many people or things.
overpopulation the state of there being too many people living in a place.
peergroup a group of people of the same age, social class, or education.
per capita
based on calculations that show the average amount for each
person affected.
population density the number of people per square kilometre of land area.
refugee
someone who leaves their country, especially during a war
or other threatening event.
scattered spread over a large area.
scavenge
to search through things that other people have thrown away in
order to see if there is anything that you want.
settler
someone who goes to live in a place where not many people live,
and starts to make it into a community
shanty town
an area where very poor people live in shanties (= a badly built
house made from sheets of wood, metal, or other thin material).
shelter
a temporary place to live for people who do not have their own
homes, or for animals who have been treated in a cruel way.
slum
a poor area of a town where the houses are in very bad
condition.
sparse existing in small amounts, or very spread out.
squatter
someone who lives in a place without permission and
without paying the owner.
stable
not changing frequently and not likely to suddenly become
worse.
starvation
a situation in which a person or animal suffers or dies
because they do not have enough to eat.
stationary not moving.
transition
the process of changing from one situation, form, or state
to another.
underdeveloped
an underdeveloped country or region is poor and does not
have modern industries or advanced technology.
Many people consider this to be an offensive word, and
prefer to use the word developing.
undernourished
someone who is undernourished is not healthy because they do
not get enough food.
underpopulated
an underpopulated area has very few people living in it,
especially with the result that there are not enough people to do
all the work.
undeveloped
an undeveloped country is poor and does not have modern
industries or advanced technology.
vaccine
a substance put into the body, usually by injection, in order to
provide protection against a disease.
workforce
the total number of people who work in a particular company,
industry, or area.