DEMOGRAPHY

Population & Demography, Demographic transition, Abstracts, Bibliography, Syllabus, Journals

Demography is the study of populations, including their size, structure and transformations.

Demography is the branch of knowledge that deals with human populations; especially. the statistical analysis of births, deaths, migrations, disease, etc., as illustrating the conditions of life in communities.

“Social demography" is an area of inquiry which seeks to understand the causes and consequences of population and demographic change by examining sociological and also economic variables.

The Demography of Conflict and Violence: An Introduction 
Helge Brunborg, Division for Social and Demographic Research, Statistics Norway.
Henrik Urdal, Centre for the Study of Civil War, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO) 
The demography of armed conflict is an emerging field among demographers and peace researchers alike. The articles in this special issue treat demography as both a cause and a consequence of armed conflict, and they carry important policy implications. A study of German-allied countries during World War II addresses the role of refugees and territorial loss in paving the way for genocide. Other articles focusing on the demographic causes of conflict discuss highly contentious issues of whether economic and social inequality, high population pressure on natural resources, and youth bulges and limited migration opportunities can lead to different forms of armed conflict and state failure. The articles on demographic responses to armed conflict analyze the destructiveness of pre-industrial warfare, differences in short- and long-term mortality trends after armed conflict, and migratory responses in war. Another set of articles on demographic responses to war is published simultaneously in the European Journal of Population. - Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 42, No. 4

Assimilation and differences between the settlement patterns of individual immigrants and immigrant households - Spatial Demography Special Feature - Mark Ellis and Richard Wright 
Department of Geography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-3550; and Department of Geography, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755-3571 
Edited by William A. V. Clark, University of California
Abstract: Analyses of immigrant settlement patterns typically rely on counts of foreign-born individuals by neighborhood, metropolitan area, state, or region. As an alternative, this study classifies immigrants and their descendents into household types to shift attention from individuals to relationships between individuals. The study uses pooled current population survey data to identify seven household types, six of which have various degrees of immigrant or second-generation presence. The research compares distributions of first- and second-generation immigrants with different types of households that include first- and second-generation immigrants. Our analysis shows that the geography of immigration based on households differs considerably from geographies based on individuals. The spatial distribution and concentration of the foreign-stock population provides one picture of immigrant geographies, whereas the patterns of concentration by several different household types opens up the chance to tell other stories. More pointedly, we emphasize that the unit of analysis shapes assimilation research results and implies that this analytical choice cannot be thought of as independent from the politics of immigration. - pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/43/15325

Perspectives on the geographic stability and mobility of people in cities 
Susan Hanson, School of Geography, Clark University - Spatial Demography Special Feature
Abstract: A class of questions in the human environment sciences focuses on the relationship between individual or household behavior and local geographic context. Central to these questions is the nature of people's geographic mobility as well as the duration of their locational stability at varying spatial and temporal scales. The problem for researchers is that the processes of mobility/stability are temporally and spatially dynamic and therefore difficult to measure. Whereas time and space are continuous, analysts must select levels of aggregation for both length of time in place and spatial scale of place that fit with the problem in question. Previous work has emphasized mobility and suppressed stability as an analytic category. I focus here on stability and show how analyzing individuals' stability requires also analyzing their mobility. Through an empirical example centered on the relationship between entrepreneurship and place, I demonstrate how a spotlight on stability illuminates a resolution to the measurement problem by highlighting the interdependence between the time and space dimensions of stability/mobility. - pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/43/15301

Migration up and down the urban hierarchy and across the life course 
D. A. Plane, C. J. Henrie, and M. J. Perry
Department of Geography and Regional Development, University of Arizona; Department of Social Sciences, Pittsburg State University; and Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC
Edited by Susan Hanson, Clark University, Worcester, MA and approved September 15, 2005
Spatial Demography Special Feature
Abstract: In this article, we begin by reviewing the concept of step migration that originated in E. G. Ravenstein's seminal papers "The Laws of Migration" (1885, 1889). As a result of the forces of the Industrial Revolution underway in 19th century Great Britain, migrants moved from farms to villages, from villages to towns, from towns to county seats, and thence to large cities. Throughout much of the industrialization era in the United States, net population movements similarly were upward within the urban hierarchy, and step migration today remains widespread throughout much of the still developing world. Our investigations of recent data and trends, however, suggest that the latest U.S. migration-pattern regime is a strongly contrasting one. Many of the major movements in the system of internal (or domestic) migration are flows down the urban hierarchy, although we note highly differentiated patterns for persons and households at specific stages of the life course. We make use of the newly defined metropolitan and micropolitan Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) and a seven-level size typology to tabulate origin-destination-specific migration flow data from both Census 2000 and IRS tax-return administrative records for the period 1995-2000. We discuss the causes for net movements being either upward or downward in the national urban hierarchy, including the effects of spatially focused immigration, and movement preferences at various ages, including migration in young adulthood associated with entering and leaving college and the military, as well as moves characteristic of the stages of family formation, childrearing, and retirement. - pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/43/15313

Population distribution and redistribution of the baby-boom cohort in the United States: Recent trends and implications - Peter A. Rogerson and Daejong Kim
Spatial Demography Special Feature
Departments of Geography and Biostatistics, University at Buffalo and National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, Buffalo
Edited by Susan Hanson, Clark University, Worcester, MA and approved September 16, 2005
Abstract: Over 70 million people were born into the baby-boom cohort between 1946 and 1964. Over 65 million of these individuals are presently alive, and thus the cohort continues to exert a powerful influence on regional population change in the United States. In this article, we examine the recent and current geographic distribution of the baby-boom cohort. In 1990, the members of the cohort comprised a particularly high proportion of the population in a small number of dynamic metropolitan areas. We also highlight the recent migration trends exhibited by this cohort; these trends are potentially important early indicators of the retirement-related migration patterns that the cohort might follow. The spatial redistribution of the cohort has many implications, including potentially significant consequences for intergenerational relationships and caregiving. Also highlighted in the article are the temporal and geographical implications for intergenerational caregiving. There has been much attention given to the "sandwich" generation, with its members having dual caregiving responsibilities to both parents and children. A more appropriate designation may be the "stretched" generation, because caregiving seems to extend over a long period. In particular, many members of the baby-boom cohort are beginning to care for their aging parents just as they finish child rearing. - pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/43/15319

Assimilation and differences between the settlement patterns of individual immigrants and immigrant households - Mark Ellis and Richard Wright 
Department of Geography, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-3550; and Department of Geography, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755-3571 
Edited by William A. V. Clark, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Spatial Demography Special Feature
Abstract: Analyses of immigrant settlement patterns typically rely on counts of foreign-born individuals by neighborhood, metropolitan area, state, or region. As an alternative, this study classifies immigrants and their descendents into household types to shift attention from individuals to relationships between individuals. The study uses pooled current population survey data to identify seven household types, six of which have various degrees of immigrant or second-generation presence. The research compares distributions of first- and second-generation immigrants with different types of households that include first- and second-generation immigrants. Our analysis shows that the geography of immigration based on households differs considerably from geographies based on individuals. The spatial distribution and concentration of the foreign-stock population provides one picture of immigrant geographies, whereas the patterns of concentration by several different household types opens up the chance to tell other stories. More pointedly, we emphasize that the unit of analysis shapes assimilation research results and implies that this analytical choice cannot be thought of as independent from the politics of immigration. - pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/43/15325

The changing demographic, legal, and technological contexts of political representation 
Benjamin Forest - Department of Geography, Dartmouth College, Hanover 
Edited by William A. V. Clark, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Spatial Demography Special Feature
Abstract: Three developments have created challenges for political representation in the U.S. and particularly for the use of territorially based representation (election by district). First, the demographic complexity of the U.S. population has grown both in absolute terms and in terms of residential patterns. Second, legal developments since the 1960s have recognized an increasing number of groups as eligible for voting rights protection. Third, the growing technical capacities of computer technology, particularly Geographic Information Systems, have allowed political parties and other organizations to create election districts with increasingly precise political and demographic characteristics. Scholars have made considerable progress in measuring and evaluating the racial and partisan biases of districting plans, and some states have tried to use Geographic Information Systems technology to produce more representative districts. However, case studies of Texas and Arizona illustrate that such analytic and technical advances have not overcome the basic contradictions that underlie the American system of territorial political representation. - pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/43/15331

Confidentiality and spatially explicit data: Concerns and challenges 
Leah K. VanWey, Ronald R. Rindfuss , Myron P. Gutmann , Barbara Entwisle , and Deborah L. Balk - Edited by Susan Hanson, Clark University, Worcester, MA
Spatial Demography Special Feature
Abstract: Recent theoretical, methodological, and technological advances in the spatial sciences create an opportunity for social scientists to address questions about the reciprocal relationship between context (spatial organization, environment, etc.) and individual behavior. This emerging research community has yet to adequately address the new threats to the confidentiality of respondent data in spatially explicit social survey or census data files, however. This paper presents four sometimes conflicting principles for the conduct of ethical and high-quality science using such data: protection of confidentiality, the social–spatial linkage, data sharing, and data preservation. The conflict among these four principles is particularly evident in the display of spatially explicit data through maps combined with the sharing of tabular data files. This paper reviews these two research activities and shows how current practices favor one of the principles over the others and do not satisfactorily resolve the conflict among them. Maps are indispensable for the display of results but also reveal information on the location of respondents and sampling clusters that can then be used in combination with shared data files to identify respondents. The current practice of sharing modified or incomplete data sets or using data enclaves is not ideal for either the advancement of science or the protection of confidentiality. Further basic research and open debate are needed to advance both understanding of and solutions to this dilemma. - pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/102/43/15337

Demography of Sexual Orientation in Adolescents 
Gary Remafedi MD, MPH, Michael Resnick PhD, Robert Blum MD, PhD, and Linda Harris
From the Adolescent Health Program, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnnesota Hospital and Clinics, Minneapolis
This study was undertaken to explore patterns of sexual orientation in a representative sample of Minnesota junior and senior high school students. The sample included 34 706 students (grades 7 through 12) from diverse ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomic strata. Five Items pertaining to sexual attraction, fantasy, behavior, and affiliation were embedded in a self-administered survey of adolescent health. Overall, 10.7% of students were "unsure" of their sexual orientation; 88.2% described themselves as predominantly heterosexual and 1.1% described themselves as bisexual or predominantly homosexual. The reported prevalence of homosexual attractions (4.5%) exceeded homosexual fantasies (2.6%), sexual behavior (1%), or affiliation (0.4%). Gender differences were minor; but responses to Individual sexual orientation items varied with age, religiosity, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Uncertainty about sexual orientation diminished in successively older age groups, with corresponding increases in heterosexual and homosexual affiliation. The findings suggest an unfolding of sexual identity during adolescence, influenced by sexual experience and demographic factors. - pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/89/4/714

Aging: The Reality - Demography of Human Supercentenarians 
L. Stephen Coles, Department of Surgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles. 
The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 59:B579-B586 (2004) © 2004 The Gerontological Society of America 
An international committee of demographers has created a carefully documented list of worldwide living supercentenarians (110 years old) that has been published by the Los Angeles Gerontology Research Group on its web site and updated on a weekly basis for the past 6 years [see "snapshot" for the year 2003 in the Appendix]. What can be learned by studying this distinguished group of individuals? Also, what are the implications for understanding the fundamental biological limits to human longevity and maximum life span? Our conclusion: Although everyone agrees that average life expectancy has systematically advanced linearly over the last century, it is not realistic to expect that this pace can continue indefinitely. Our data suggest that, without the invention of some new unknown form of medical breakthrough, the Guinness Book of World Records benchmark established by French woman Jeanne Calment of 122 years, set back in 1997, will be exceedingly difficult to break in our lifetime. - biomed.gerontologyjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/59/6/B579

Israeli Discourse on Arab-Jewish Demography - Elia Zureik
Abstract: Without exception, Israeli commentators of various political and disciplinary shades have recently turned their attention to examining Arab-Jewish population balance in the current political dispute between the two peoples. While demography is not new to Zionist and Israeli discourse, its veracity now and the need, in the face of declining Jewish immigration and continuing increase in the size of the Arab population, to settle once and for all the geography and political contours of the “Jewish” state is greater than ever. 
The paper situates the debate within discussions about the role of demography in ethnically-bound societies, the evolution of population balance between Arabs and Jews since 1948, including population projections should Israel retain its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the relationship between modernization and demographic structure, the containment policies of successive Israeli governments toward the Arab population, and the ideological bases of Israeli-Jewish discourse regarding the Arab population as revealed in public opinion data on issues related to population transfer, expulsion, and political disenfranchisement. 
The paper concludes by pointing out that the population debate is driven by three factors: exaggerating the size of the Arab population in Israel through counting the Arabs of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as part of Israel, the inapplicability of the modernization thesis to demography as long as socio-economic policies towards the Arab sector remain discriminatory in their essence, and the tendency to solve the demographic issue by espousing population transfer and land exchange in the name of national security. - mada-research.org/review/issue1a1.pdf 

Disentangling the Effects of Demography and Selection in Human History 
Jason E. Stajich and Matthew W. Hahn - Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University; and Center for Population Biology, University of California.
Abstract: Demographic events affect all genes in a genome, whereas natural selection has only local effects. Using publicly available data from 151 loci sequenced in both European-American and African-American populations, we attempt to distinguish the effects of demography and selection. To analyze large sets of population genetic data such as this one, we introduce "Perlymorphism," a Unix-based suite of analysis tools. Our analyses show that the demographic histories of human populations can account for a large proportion of effects on the level and frequency of variation across the genome. The African-American population shows both a higher level of nucleotide diversity and more negative values of Tajima's D statistic than does a European-American population. Using coalescent simulations, we show that the significantly negative values of the D statistic in African-Americans and the positive values in European-Americans are well explained by relatively simple models of population admixture and bottleneck, respectively. Working within these nonequilibrium frameworks, we are still able to show deviations from neutral expectations at a number of loci, including ABO and TRPV6. In addition, we show that the frequency spectrum of mutations—corrected for levels of polymorphism—is correlated with recombination rate only in European-Americans. These results are consistent with repeated selective sweeps in non-African populations, in agreement with recent reports using microsatellite data. - mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/22/1/63

Demography as both a cause and a consequence of armed conflict

Population Studies and Demography - Abstracts

Connections: Demography and Sociology in Twentieth Century Canada
Sylvia T. Wargon
Abstract: Specific areas are highlighted in which demography can be shown to have benefited the conduct of sociological research, and the sociology departments in Canadian universities housing demography programs and courses from the 1960s. These specific areas include: demography’s empirical, statistical and methodological features.

Population Studies and Demography - Bibliography

American Demographics. ISSN 0163-4089. American Demographics, 127 West State Street, Ithaca, NY 14850.

Annales de Démographie Historique. (Société de Démographie Historique.) ISSN 0066-2062. Centre Roland Mousnier, Université de Paris IV--Sorbonne, 1 rue Victor Cousin, 75230 Paris Cedex 05, France.

Applied Demography. (Population Association of America.) 721 Ellsworth Drive, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Boletín Demográfico/Demographic Bulletin. (United Nations. Centro Latinoamericano de Demografía.) ISSN 0378-5386. Avenida Dag Hammarskjold, Casilla 91, Santiago, Chile.

Canadian Studies in Population. (University of Alberta. Department of Sociology. Population Research Laboratory.) ISSN 0380-1489. Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2H4, Canada.

Demography. (Population Association of America.) ISSN 0070-3370. 721 Ellsworth Drive, Suite 303, Silver Spring, MD 20910.

Demography India. (Indian Association for the Study of Population.) ISSN 0970-454X. Hindustan Publishing Corporation (India), 6 U.B. Jawahar Nagar, Delhi 110 007, India.

Review of Population Reviews. (Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography.) ISSN 0377-8959. 27 rue du Commandeur, 75675 Paris Cedex 14, France.

Beaver, S.E. (1975) Demographic Transition Theory Reinterpreted Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books

Borrie, Wilfrid D. (1973) 'The place of demography in the development of the social sciences' in International Union for the Scientific Study of Population International Population Conference Liege 1973, Vol. 1 Liege: IUSSP: 73-93

Chesnais, Jean-Claude (1992) The Demographic Transition: Stages, Patterns and Economic Implications Oxford: Clarendon Press

Grebenik, Eugene (1989) 'Demography, democracy, and demonology' Population & Development Review 15(1): 1-22

Hajnal, John (1965) 'European marriage patterns in perspective' in David V. Glass and David E.C. Eversley (eds) Population in History: Essays in Historical Demography London: Edward Arnold

Handwerker, W. Penn (1986) 'Culture and reproduction: exploring micro/macro linkages' in W.P. Handwerker (ed.) Culture and Reproduction: An Anthropological Critique of Demographic Transition Theory Boulder: Westview Press

Hauser, Philip M. (1959) 'Demography in relation to sociology' American Journal of Sociology 65(2): 169-73

Hazeu, Cornelius A. & Frinking, Gerard A.B. (eds) (1990) Emerging Issues in Demographic Research Amsterdam: Elsevier

Henry, Louis (1968) 'Historical demography' Daedalus 97(2): 385-96

Hodgson, Dennis (1983) 'Demography as social science and policy science' Population & Development Review 9(1): 1-34

Jones, E.F. (1971) 'Fertility decline in Australia and New Zealand, 1861-1936' Population Index 37(4): 301-38 Kaa, Dirk J. van de (1987) 'Europe's second demographic transition' Population Bulletin 42(1): 1-59

Katz, Michael B. (1976) 'The origins of public education: a reassessment' History of Education Quarterly 16(4): 381-407

Kreager, Philip (1986) 'Demographic regimes as cultural systems' in Coleman & Schofield (1986): 131-55

Lindenberg, Siegwart (1990) 'Towards the construction of interdisciplinary theoretical models to explain demographic behaviour: a comment' in Hazeu & Frinking (1990): 199-217

Livi-Bacci, Massimo (1984) 'On the revolution of fertility patterns in Europe' in Serge Feld & Ron Lesthaeghe (eds) Population and Societal Outlook: Agora Demography Brussels: King Baudouin Foundation: 65-81

Maynes, Mary J. (1992) 'The contours of childhood: demography, strategy, and mythology of childhood in French and German lower-class autobiographies' in Gillis, Tilly & Levine (1992): 101- 24

Noonan, Jr., John T. (1972) 'Intellectual and demographic history' in Glass & Revelle (1972): 115- 35

Quiggan, Pat (1988) No Rising Generation. Women and Fertility in Late 19th Century Australia Canberra: Department of Demography, ANU

Ruzicka, Lado T. and Caldwell, John C. (1977) The End of Demographic Transition in Australia Canberra: Department of Demography, ANU

Smith, Daniel S. (1993) 'American family and demographic patterns and the northwest European model' Continuity & Change 8(3): 389-415

Stolnitz, George J. (1964) 'The demographic transition: from high to low birth and death rates' in Ronald Freedman (ed.) Population: The Vital Revolution New York: Anchor: 30-46

Walle, Francine van de (1980) 'Education and the demographic transition in Switzerland' Population & Development Review 6(3): 463-72

SOCIAL DEMOGRAPHY - Department of Sociology - University of Oregon
blackboard.uoregon.edu/courses/SOC415W03
Prof. P. Gwartney - Professor: Patricia A. Gwartney
Course Description: Demography is the scientific study of population, emphasizing the size, composition, distribution, and change in human populations. Demography is distinguished from other social sciences by the data, tools, methods, and theory that demographers use. “Social” demography is an area of inquiry which seeks to understand the causes and consequences of population and demographic change by examining sociological and economic variables.

Human Population And Demography: A Guide To Reference And Information Sources (Social Sciences) by Jason Xiao Yu

Arab Political Demography: Population Growth And Natalist Policies (Sussex Studies in Demographic Developments and Socioeconomic) by Onn Winckler

Demography: The Science of Population - by Jay Weinstein, Vijayan K. Pillai
Written by a sociologist and a demographer, the book's principal aim is to improve the students' skills primarily as consumers and secondarily as producers of demographic information. The book takes an applied interdisciplinary approach, emphasizing demographic resources such as software, data sets, journals, and the Internet. For anyone interested in population studies.

Demography: Measuring and Modeling Population Processes
by Samuel H. Preston, Patrick Heuveline, Michel Guillot

Demography : The Study of Human Population by David Yaukey, Douglas L. Anderton
The authors have skillfully recrafted this classic text into an exciting, up-to-date introduction to demography that reflects the field's evolution into a rich and diversified discipline. Demography, Second Edition presents current data and short-term projections of relatively stable trends.

Success or Failure? Family Planning Programs in the Third World (Studies in Population and Urban Demography) by Donald J. Hernandez

Asian Population History (International Studies in Demography) - by Cuirong Liu (Editor), James Lee (Editor), David Sven Reher (Editor), Osamu Saito (Editor), Wang Feng (Editor), Ts'Ui-Jung Liu (Editor) "'Population history' is probably a broader chronological concept than 'historical demography' and allows a closer approach to the present time..."

The Demography of African Americans 1930-1990 (The Plenum Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis) by I.T. Elo, S.H. Preston, Mark E. Hill, Ira Rosenwaike

Population and Poverty in the Developing World (International Studies in Demography)
by Massimo Livi Bacci (Editor), Gustavo De Santis (Editor), Massimo Livi-Bacci (Editor)
This volume concentrates on all aspects of the population and poverty problem: what poverty is, what effects poverty has, what creates poverty, and what can be done to eradicate it.

Population Health and Aging: Strengthening the Dialogue between Epidemiology and Demography by Maxine Weinstein, Albert I. Hermalin, Michael A. Stoto
Population Health is an emerging field that draws heavily on two disciplines: demography and epidemiology.

Demography of the Black Population in the United States : An Annotated Bibliography with a Review Essay by Jamshid A. Momeni
A rather generalized introduction to the subject is provided under the title `Black Demography: A Review Essay,' a well-documented summary of writings from the past 100 years. Except where publications are clearly in more than one area of interest, each is listed but once. ... An Author Index concludes the work.... [Anyone] concerned with demographic studies about blacks in the U.S. will find Demography of the Black Population in the United States convenient and reliable.

Population and Ethno-Demography in Vietnam - by Dien Khong, Khong Dien
The systematic presentation of demographic information in easy-to-read tables, with accompanying explanation and discussion of national population policies, will be invaluable to policy makers, consultants, and researchers requiring detailed and comprehensive information on the multi-ethnic population of Vietnam.

Formal Demography (The Plenum Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis)
by David P. Smith
A relatively nontechnical introductory text in current demographic methods.

Contemporary population studies, demography and epidemiology

E-Books