Latest revision as of 05:39, 5 February 2010

Certain sub-disciplines within demography have received special names reflecting their objectives or their methodology. Historical demography ¹ deals with populations of the past for which written records are available. In the absence of such sources, the study of ancient populations takes the name of paleo-demography ² . In descriptive demography ³ the numbers, geographical distribution, structure and change of human populations are described by means of population statistics ⁴ or demographic statistics ⁴ . The treatment of quantitative relations among demographic phenomena in abstraction from their association with other phenomena, is called theoretical demography ⁵ or pure demography ⁵ ; because of its resort to various mathematical methods, in practice it is identified with mathematical demography ⁶. A piece of research that applies the tools of demographic analysis (103-1) to an actual population is often called a demographic study ⁷. This study can focus on the current demographic situation ^8★ or current demographic conditions ^8★, i.e. the population change and its indicators during a short and recent period. All the preceding disciplines place a great emphasis on the numerical aspects of the phenomena, and are sometimes referred to as formal demography ⁹, when they apply only to the size and structure of the population. In contrast the broader term population studies ¹⁰ also includes the treatment of relations between demographic events and social, economic or other phenomena. More...