eco314

• Demography


  The study of various aspects concerning people such as age, occupation, sex, nationality, marital status, race and education
• The most important thing in the world is people as they spread over the face of the earth and is not at once the means and the ends of all societal endeavors
• Everything is done in the field of economics or industry, government or politics, education, religion, and other field, by the people and for the people
• The number of people involved, their distribution manner over the territory, rate of increment or decrement and the extent to which they are young or old, female or male, married or single, urban or rural, in the labour force or out of it, of one ethnic group (race) or another, literate or illiterate, native born or foreign born and so on, are the basic importance in nearly all of mankind's undertakings
• Virtually all questions or public policies have their population aspects at the local, state, national and even international level
• Population aspects important for policy formulation

  • Agriculture and industry
  • Immigration
  • Education
  • Social security
  • Health and medical insurance
• Population aspects important at state level

  • Old age policies
  • Other welfare measures
  • Equalization of education opportunities
  • Construction of highways
  • Apportionment of seats in the legislature
  • Hospitalization
• Population aspects important at local level

  • Schools' location
  • Schools' construction
  • School consolidation
  • Locating and building of hospitals and other health facilities
  • Planning and improvement of roads and highways
• Number of inhabitants


  The most important demographic fact in an area, large or small
• Fundamental characteristics of population

  • Age
  • Sex
  • Rural or urban residence
  • Race or colour
• Age


  The most important person's characteristic and the most fundamental determinant of behaviour
• Sex


  The person's second most important personal characteristic
• Rural/urban migration


  The demographic characteristics and processes of persons living in the countryside are radically different from those residing in the cities
• Race and/or colour


  Differences in pigmentation, hair texture and other distinguishing characteristics of Homo sapiens, used to establish different categories of mankind such as the white, the black and the yellow
• Contemporary scientific findings and theories give scant support to the belief that these physical characteristics are in any way related to native intelligence, innate capacities or moral capabilities
• National origin


  Significant in countries with a considerable number of immigrants
• Marital condition


  Included in modern census of population
• Population characteristics


  • Occupation
  • Industry
  • Labour force
  • Employment
  • Educational status
  • Religious affiliation
• Vital processes


  The study of natural increase of population, that is, of births and deaths and the resulting surplus or deficits when one is weighed against the other
• Births, deaths and migration are the only factors that influence directly the size or geographic distribution of a population
• Birth rate, reproduction or fertility of the population is the major element in changing number and distribution of a given area
• Mortality is the second of society's two vital processes
• Migration of persons from one country to another or from place to place within a given country is the third in the vital process
• The bulk of the data utilized by the demographers are those secured mainly for the other purposes in the periodic censuses of population which most nations conduct and form the registries of births, deaths and migration which they maintain
• A student of population must be an expert in the collection, testing, tabulation, manipulation, analysis, description and interpretation of statistical materials
• Every year, approximately 83million people are being added to the world. Almost all of this net population increase is in developing countries
• Rapid population growth can have serious consequences for the well-being of all humanity
• Development entails the improvement in people's level of living, that is, their income, health, education and general well-being. It encompasses their self-esteem, dignity and freedom to choose
• When people first started to cultivate food through agriculture 1200 years ago the estimated world population was not more than 5 million
• At the beginning of the era (2000 years ago), world population had grown up to 250 million, less than a fifth of the population in China today
• From 1 AD to the beginning of industrial revolution around 1750AD it tripled to 728 million people – well under the total number of people living in India today
• The world entered the 21st century with almost 6.1 billion people. The projection for 2020 is that the world population is expected to stabilize at around 11 billion
• High birth rates can not be altered substantially overnight
• Age structure of developing countries is like a pyramid
• Major ethnic, racial and linguistic groups in Kenya

  • Bantus
  • Nilotes
  • Cushites
  • Arabs
  • Indians
  • Europeans
• Bantus


  The largest population division in Kenya, originally from West-central Africa, they began a millennium long series of migration referred to as the Bantu expansion that first brought them to East Africa about 2000 years ago
• Nilotes


  The second largest group of people in Kenya, they speak Nilo-Saharan languages and they came to East Africa through Southern Sudan, originated from West Africa
• Cushites


  They form a significant majority of Kenya's population, they speak Afro-Asiatic languages and originally come from Ethiopia and Somalia in North-Eastern Africa
• Arabs


  They form a very small but historically important ethnic group, principally located along coast, majority a Muslim community, they primarily came from Yemen and are engaged in trade
• Indians


  They originated from the Indian sub-continent, they form the most prosperous community in Kenya