Demograph

• Demography


  The study of populations and their characteristics, including births, deaths and migrations
• Birth measures


  • Actual numbers - number of births in a population over a given time period
  • Birth rate - Number of births per thousand of the population per year
  • The total fertility rate - Average number of children that a woman would have during her lifetime
• Reasons for declining birth rates


  • Changes in the position of women
  • Children are becoming more expensive
  • Decline in the infant mortality rate
  • Individualisation
  • Child - centeredness - quality over quantity
• Sarah Harper: 'The education of women is the most important reason for the long - term fall in birth and fertility rates'
• Death measures


  • Actual numbers - The number of deaths in a population over a given period of time (usually a year)
  • Death rate - The number of deaths per 1000 of the population per year
  • Infant mortality
• Immigration


  Movement into an area
• Emigration


  Movement out of an area
• Push and pull factors for migration


  • Push factors: push people out of an area like economic recession
  • Pull factors: factors that attract people to a new area. higher wages & better opportunities abroad
• Net migration


  The difference between numbers of immigration and emigration
• Dependency ratio


  The relationship between the size of the working population and the size of the non working (dependent) population
• Globalisation


  Barriers between societies disappearing, people increasingly interconnected
• Globalisation leading to increased international migration- movement of people across borders
• Reasons why people are living longer

  • Improved nutrition
  • Medical improvements
  • Loss of infectious diseases
  • Smoking and diet
  • Public health measures
• Effects of an aging population


  • The dependency ratio
  • Public services
  • One - person pensioner households
• The traditional age "pyramid" is disappearing- There will be as many 78 year olds as 5 year alds by 2041