DEMOGRAPHY

Demography is the statistical study of human population.

It encompasses the study of the size, structure and distribution of these

populations, and spatial and/or temporal changes in them in response to birth,

migration, aging and death.

Collection of demographic data can be broadly categorized into two methods:

DIRECT AND INDIRECT:

Direct demographic data collection is the process of collecting data straight from statistics registries which are responsible for tracking all birth and death records and also records pertaining to marital status and migration. Perhaps the most common and popular methods of direct collection of demographic data is the census.

The indirect method of demographic data collection may involve only certain people or informants in trying to get data for the entire population. For instance, one of the indirect demographic data methods is the sister method. In this method, a researchers only asks all the women on the number of their sisters who have died or have had children who have died at what age they died. From the collected data, the researchers will draw their analysis and conclusions based on indirect estimates on birth and death rates and then apply some mathematical formula.

SCOPE

Those who want to enlarge the scope can be called the Macro demographic group and those who maintain narrow view can be put in the micro demography group.

Macro Demography

Under macro demography the writers have studied the causes of slow or rapid grow of birth rate, death rate, population growth, sex ratio and health conditions, etc.

Many economic issues like unemployment, income condition of the masses, standard of living, labor conditions and living standard, production, consumption, saving-habits, correlation between population and economic development are all part of Macro Demography Study

According to the narrow view we study demography as small units like individual, family, group etc In fact these units constitute the primary elements of macro analysis. For instance if we study the fertility rate of women

BALANCED VIEW OF DEMOGRAPHYThese schools of thought have presented

a balanced view of the nature and scope of demography.

According to Whipple the subject matter of demography comprises of:

(I) Geneology, Ancestory and their records(2) Human Eugenics.(3) Registration of vital events(4) Census of Population(5) Biometrics dealing with the study of structure, growth and strength of human body(6) Path metrics dealing with the knowledge. of disease and anatomy

In short, in the subject matter of Demography we study the following:

Size:The number of people living in a given

place at a given time, its comparison with previous period and the future projection are important elements of size of population.

Composition of Population:Composition of population covers alt the

measurable characteristics of the people who form a given population. The most widely used characteristics are age and sex.

Distribution of Population:Under it we study how are people distributed

in the world in the categories labeled advanced urban industrial regions. The changes taking place in the numbers and proportions in different categories and their -causes are also important.

Labor Force:Labor force constitutes an important field of

economic study. Labor force falls into two classes, viz., economically active labor force and economically dependent or inactive labor force.

Population Policy:

The need of proper population policy has come to occupy an indispensable adjunct of population of planning.

Population policy study embrace, Items like the philosophy and guiding principles of population policy, the magnitudes of the prob1em, organizational structure of policy frame, services and supplies, education and motivation family planning targets, family planning progress and achievement family planning expenditure, births averted and effect on birth rate, etc