What is Demography?
Demography is a broad social science discipline concerned with the
study of human populations. Demographers deal with the collection, presentation
and analysis of information relating to the basic life-cycle events
and experiences of people: birth, marriage, divorce, household and family
formation, employment, ageing, migration and death. The discipline emphasises
theoretical and empirical investigation of population processes, including
the conceptualisation and measurement of these processes and the study
of their determinants and consequences. Practitioners frequently draw
on related disciplinary areas - sociology, economics, political science,
anthropology, psychology, public health and ecology - to illuminate
their analyses. They may explore biological and biosocial aspects of
fertility and mortality in areas such as reproductive health and epidemiology.
The field of demography is also concerned with the broader nature of
social and economic change, and with the impact of demographic change
on the natural environment. The concepts of cohorts, life tables, event
histories, population momentum and stable populations that have emerged
from demography have made significant contributions to an understanding
of social change. The demographic literature is also rich in coverage
of broad topical studies of human resources; health and morbidity; family
systems and family structure; the role of women; the value of children;
and the social, cultural and institutional context of demographic change.
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