John R. Weeks

11th Edition

Introduction to Demography

Chapter Outline

What Is Demography? Why Is Demography Important? How Will You Use This Information? What Is the Rest of This Course About?

The world’s population will continue The world’s population will continue to increase for the rest of our lives. to increase for the rest of our lives. Even though virtually all of it will Even though virtually all of it will take place in developing countries take place in developing countries (indeed, cities of those countries), (indeed, cities of those countries), we will experience the consequences we will experience the consequences and our lives will be different in the and our lives will be different in the future than they are now as a result. future than they are now as a result.

World Population Distribution Defined by Nighttime Lights

Darker areas show where there are the most lights at night, suggestive of population distribution.

What is Demography?

The scientific study of human population.

The term was coined in 1855 by Achille Guillard, who used it in the title of his book Éléments de Statistique Humaine ou Démographie Comparée.

Demography

Concerned with: Population size Population growth or declinePopulation processes Population distributionPopulation structure Population characteristics

The Past Is a Foreign Country

1900 2000

World population (billions) 1.6 6.1

U.S. population (millions) 76 281

U.S. percent of world total 4.8% 4.6%

Life expectancy 47 77

Children per woman 3.5 2.1

The Past Is a Foreign Country

1900 2000

Immigrants from Italy(1900–1910); (1990–2000)

2 million 63,000

Immigrants from Mexico(1900–1910); (1990–2000)

50,000 2.2 million

% Foreign-born 13.6% 11.1%

% Urban 40% 80%

The Past Is a Foreign Country

1900 2000

Number of passenger cars 8,000 130 million

% of population under 15 34.4% 21.4%

% of population 65+ 4.1% 12.4%

Average persons per household

4.76 2.59

% High school graduates 10% 80%

If the past was a foreign country, what does that say about the future, given expected population changes?

Why is Demography Important? Nearly everything is connected to

demography.Globalization

○ Search for cheap laborTerrorism and regional conflict

○ Aggravated by the youth bulge in the Middle East and South Asia

Violence in sub-Saharan Africa○ Aggravated by high birth rates and issues

arising from HIV/AIDS

Backlash against immigrants○ Aggravated by xenophobia in the face of the need

for workers in the richer, aging countriesDegradation of the environment

○ Every person added to the population requires energy to prepare food, provide clothing and shelter, and fuel economic life.Can we feed everyone?Can we pull everyone out of poverty?

We must guard against demographic fatigue○ The “silent explosion” is taking place outside the

rich countriesHow will each of these population-related issues likely influence what our future will be like?

Geodemographics and Spatial Demography Demography is an inherently spatial

science. The field of demographics taps into this

and applies demographic principles to practical problems.

Where you are has a tremendous influence over who you are.

These spatial connections show up repeatedly in demographic analysis.

Demographics of Politics The Census of Population provides data for

the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives (we will look at this in Chap 4).

Legislators ask questions about how population influences government programs: Will an increase in the older population

bankrupt the Social Security system? Candidates ask how they can use

demographics to help get elected.

“Blue and Red” States Reflecting Presidential Elections in the U.S. (2008)and Mexico (2006)

Demographics of Social Planning Local agencies use demographics to

plan for services (education, fire, police, sanitation, economic development) for their communities.

Sickness and health are affected by sociodemographic characteristics and the demand for services shifts with demographic trends.

Marketing Demographics Segmenting markets - tailoring products

and services to a specific demographic group

Targeting - aiming the advertising of a product or service to a specific demographic group

Cluster marketing - relating demographic information about people to information about where they live.

Riding the Age Wave: Births and Selected Age Groups in the U.S.

1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

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1995

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2005

2010

2015

2020

2025

2030

2035

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2045

2050

0

10

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Po

pu

lati

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(in

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5B

irths

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Births

10-19

40-49

65-74

Demographics are also useful for: Site selection Human resource management Long-term investment

How do you think youth bulges in developing countries might influence spatial demographic changes and affect social, political, and business planning in rich countries?

Is Demography Destiny?

Demography shapes the world, Demography shapes the world, even if it does not determine it.even if it does not determine it.

Population change is an underlying Population change is an underlying component of almost everything component of almost everything happening in the world happening in the world todaytoday, and , and therefore in the therefore in the futurefuture as well… as well…

The sun never sets on demographic The sun never sets on demographic change!change!

Relevant news items from the WeeksPopulation blog: Posts related to an introduction to demo

graphy

http://itunes.apple.com/app/weekspopulation/id491729979?mt=8

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