Elements in Social Demography

Populations can change through three processes: fertility mortality and migration. Fertility involves the number of children that women have and is to be contrasted with fecundity (a woman’s childbearing potential). Mortality is the study of the causes consequences and measurement of processes affecting death to members of the population. Demographers most commonly study mortality using the Life Table a statistical device which provides information about the mortality conditions (most notably the life expectancy) in the population. Migration refers to the movement of persons from a locality of origin to a destination place across some pre-defined political boundary. Migration researchers do not designate movements ‘migrations’ unless they are somewhat permanent. Thus demographers do not consider tourists and travellers to be migrating. While demographers who study migration typically do so through census data on place of residence indirect sources of data including tax forms and labour force surveys are also important. Demography is today widely taught in many universities across the world attracting students with initial training in social sciences statistics or health studies. Being at the crossroads of several disciplines such as sociology economics epidemiology geography anthropology and history demography offers tools to approach a large range of population issues by combining a more technical quantitative approach that represents the core of the discipline with many other methods borrowed from social or other sciences. Demographic research is conducted in universities in research institutes as well as in statistical departments and in several international agencies. Contents: • Cartography • Statistical Methods in Geography • Outline of Geography • Industrial Location Theory • The Von Thunen Model • Theories of Population • Population Structure • Population Growth • Human Population Control • Classical Demography