Paper No.

: 12 Demographic Anthropology
Module : 01 Introduction to Demography

Development Team

Principal Investigator Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor

Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi

Prof. Gautam K. Kshatriya

Paper Coordinator
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi

Mr. Atreyo Mondal & Prof. Gautam K. Kshatriya

Content Writer Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi

Dr. Satwanti Kapoor (Retd Professor)

Content Reviewer
Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi

Introduction to Demography
Anthropology
 Description of Module

Subject Name Anthropology

Paper Name Demographic Anthropology

Module Name/Title Introduction to Demography

Module Id 01

Contents

1. Introduction

2. Why Study Population

3. History of Population Studies

4. Development of Demography studies in India

5. Census in British India

6. The Imperial Gazetteers

7. Assessing Stage of Demographic Transition

7.1. Pre-transitional

7.2. Early Transition

7.3. Transitional

7.4. Post-Transitional

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Anthropology
 8. Scope of Demography

8.1. Size of the Population

8.1.1. Size

8.1.2. Place

8.1.3. Time

8.2. Composition of Populations

8.2.1. Distribution of Populations

8.2.2. Fertility, Mortality and Migration

8.2.3. Labour Force

8.2.4. Social Demography

8.2.5. Population Policies

9. Relationship of Demography with other Disciplines

9.1 Relationship with Sociology

9.2. Relationship with Geography

9.3. Relationship with Demography and Human Ecology

9.4. Relationship with Demography and Cultural studies

9.5. Relationship of Demography with Evolutionary studies

9.6. Relationship of Demography and Physical Anthropology

9.7. Relationship of Demography and Population Genetics

Introduction to Demography
Anthropology
 10. Importance of Demography

10.1. For the Economy

10.2. For Society
10.3. For Economic Planning
10.4. For Administrators
10.5. For Political System
11. Summary
Learning Objectives-

 To know about the history of population studies

 To know about the composition of populations
 To know about the stage of demographic transition
 To know about the relationship of demography with other disciplines

1. Introduction

The word Demography comes from two ancient Greek words Demo meaning the people and Graphy
meaning writing/description.

Introduction to Demography
Anthropology
  Demography is the study of human population dynamics. It encompasses the study of the size,
structure and distribution of populations, and how populations change over time due to births,
deaths, migration, and aging.
 Demographic analysis can relate to whole societies or to smaller groups defined by criteria such
as education, religion, or ethnicity.
 In clear term Demography employs scientific methods of studying cause and effect
relationships and has its own techniques of interpreting the past and present variables so that
they can be used for projecting future population dynamics.


Source: http://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/demography-definition-meaning/

With the help of statistical tool Demography studies the population of human beings. As a very general
science, it can analyse any kind of dynamic living population, i.e., one that changes over time or space.

Because demography is interested in changes in human populations, demographers focus on specific

indicators of change. Two of the most important indicators are birth and death rates, which are also
referred to as fertility and mortality. Additionally, demographers are interested in migration trends or
the movement of people from one location to another. (Srivastava, 1994).

Introduction to Demography
Anthropology
 2. Why Study Population

Demography can play a number of roles and serve several distinct purposes. The most fundamental is
to describe changes in population size, distribution, and composition as a guide for decision making.
This is done by obtaining counts of persons from, for example, censuses, the files of continuous
population registers, administrative records, or sample surveys. Counts of births and deaths can be
obtained from vital registration systems or from continuous population registers. Similarly,
immigration and emigration data can be obtained from immigration registration systems or from
continuous population registers. Although individual events may be unpredictable, clear patterns
emerge when the records of individual events are combined. As is true in many other scientific fields,
demographers make use of these patterns in studying population trends, developing theories of
population change, and analyzing the causes and consequences of population trends. Various
demographic measures such as ratios, percentages, rates, and averages may be derived from them. The
resulting demographic data can then be used to describe the distribution of the population in space, its
degree of concentration or dispersion, the fluctuations in its rate of growth, and its movements from
one area to another (Bhende., & Kanitkar 2000).

Demographic analysis can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such
as education, nationality, religion, and ethnicity. Educational institutions usually treat demography as a
field of sociology, though there are a number of independent demography departments.

Demography is rather amorphous congeries, made up of bits and pieces of other disciplines that are
assembled together. Malthus had talked about the depopulating agents (positive checks) and some
critics dubbed the entire subject of population studies as “Demonology” what is known today as
“Demography.”(Srivastava., 1994.)

According to notable Economists Hauser and Duncan –“Demography has to be a study of the size,
territorial distribution and composition of population, change therein, and the components of such
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 changes, which may be identified as natality, mortality, territorial movement (migration) and social
mobility.

In the terms of W.G. Barckley-“Demography does not deal with the behaviour of individuals but only
with the aggregates of people or even part thereof. The numerical potryal of human population is
known as demography.”

Today, there is growing interest among the public in demography, as “demographic change” has
become the subject of political debates in many developed countries. Most of these countries have birth
rates below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman, and, at the same time, life expectancy has
been rising considerably and continues to raise – a development sometimes called “the aging of
societies.”

While demography cannot offer political advice on how to tackle demographic change, demographers
seek to describe the phenomena related to this change, and to understand their causes. Using reliable
data and the statistical processing of these data, modern demographic research embraces many
scientific disciplines, including mathematics, economics and other social sciences, geography or
biology.

Demography as a subject has historically contained has historically contained elements both of a social
science and a policy science.

Demography concentrates mostly on the quantative aspects of population change, in population studies
it examines all the ramifications of interface between change in population and economic development.

Demography studies theories, events vista and policy propositions. Mainly studies how to adjust the
economy to the requirements of the population. But this is “economics of development”. The discipline
has its own “hypotheses”, “theories”, “laws”, “policy prescriptions” and “facts.” It has its own
deductive reasoning and empirical techniques, methods of observations, recordings, classification,
measurements and generalizations.

Introduction to Demography
Anthropology
 Many generalizations of Demography are veridical related to time, space, levels of economic
development and societies. Demography studies “what was,” “what can probably be” relating to
changes in population. It has its own macro and micro aspects of study. Though some of the
generalizations of the subject partake the nature of universal truths, many policy prescriptions have to
be tailor-made.

Demography deals with the vital issues relating to the events relating to the events of marriage (or
mating, even without it) births, living, migration and that and hence its relationship can be traced with
some important disciplines of pure as well as social sciences. An organic, and not mechanical, view is
taken of everything.

3. History of Population Studies

During the period of middle of seventeenth centaury the population studies emerged as a discipline in
England. Most of its early development took place in England, France, Germany and a few other
European countries. Later in United States of America contributed substantially towards the
development of this discipline.

The Founding Fathers- Curiosity and concern about the size and characteristics of the population have
had a long history. Investigations, however, were sporadic and received little systematic attention, for
they were usually undertaken in response to some specific problems faced by the society.

The credit for initiating a new field of empirical research in population studies goes to John Graunt, an
English haberdasher, who generally acclaimed as the father of Demography or Population Studies.
Graunt’s observations mainly contained a quantative analysis of mortality and only incidentally that
fertility and migration. The “bills of mortality” from which Graunt obtained the data for his analysis
were current reports n burials and christenings in a population of nearly half a million persons in

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 London and its environs. These reports were compiled and maintained regularly from 1603 onwards by
parish clerks. Graunt assembled the data contained in these reports for the period 1604-1661 and
prepared a report, which today regarded as the first systematic and objective study of population. It is
said “in the maze of events recorded in the bills of mortality, he sought and found order.”

The discipline of population studies is indeed indebted to John Graunt for laying the foundation of a
new science.

Some of Graunt’s English contemporaries and successors share with him the credit of founding
population studies. Sir William Petty (1623-1687), an English scholar and Graunt’s contemporary, was
also his friend and collaborator. He inspired and encouraged Graunt in his undertaking. Petty’s own
Political Arithmetic has considerably influenced the future development of population studies.

Early explorers in the field of population studies, hailing from different social strata were engaged in
varied avocations and had different ideologies. Yet these amateurs had one thing in common- their
desire and enthusiasm to discover the hithero unknown relationships, especially in quantative terms, in
the vital processes of life and death. (Durand, J., 1962)

4. Development of Demography studies in India

Pre-Independence Period: In the ancient history of India, a few references are found to the collection
of population data. A detailed description of how to conduct a population data, economic and
agricultural census is available in the Arthashastyra, a treatise on policy attributed to Kautilya, the
Prime Minister of Chandragupta Maurya (323-300 B.C) (A.C. Banerjee). The Ain-I-Akabari, compiled
by Abul Fazal during the reign of Akbar (154-1605), contains comprehensive data on population
industry, wealthy and characteristics of the population. Some attempts to collect data were, however,
few and far between and are today of purely historical interest.

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 5. Census in British India

Data on population became available on a regular basis in India only after the establishment of the
system of decennial census in 1872. The beginning of census taking may therefore be considered as the
starting point of population studies in India. Many of the earlier census reports have a heavy
anthropological impetus, which were mostly written by British administrators who were interested in
getting broad understanding of the unknown strange land they had colonised and equally unknown
strange people whose culture was totally different from their own. The British census actuaries
contributed much by studying the Indian age data and by constructing life tables on the census data.
This is a contribution not only to the development of population studies but also to the discipline of
mathematics. Based on census reports from 1872-1941, Kingsley Davis, the well-known demographer,
produced his monumental work “The Population of India and Pakistan” which is valued ever today for
its contribution to the progress of population studies in India ( Davis, K., 1968).

6. The Imperial Gazetteers

While tracing the development of population studies in India, it will not be out of place to mention the
Imperial Gazetteers, which contain a through and exhaustive account of India and her people. The
Imperial Gazetteers were first published in 9 volumes in 1881 at the initiative of W.W. Hunter. A
companion volume appeared in 1882 and was entitled as the Indian Empire. Its History, People and
Products. Later, revised versions of the Imperial Gazetteers were issued in 1907 and 1909 in 26
volumes.

The first volume of the Imperial Gazetteers, in the section on Public Health and Vital Statistics,
contains a discussion on such matters as nutrition, early marriages, birth rates, the relationship between
marriage customs and birth rates, rural-urban birth and death rates, differentials in mortality, by sex,

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 religion, rural-urban residence, infant mortality, causes of death, health conditions in the European and
the native army, etc. it is interesting to note as one looks back that these are precisely the topics which
are today included in population studies (Bhende., & Kanitkar, 2000).

7. Assessing stage of demographic transition

Demographers have identified a long-term evolution of demographic processes, known as the

Demographic Transition. The Demographic Transition is key to being able to portray the demographic
“status” of a society in terms of its fertility and mortality levels. There are 4 main stages of the
Demographic Transition (demographicpartitions.org)
7.1. Pre-transitional

In the pre-transitional stage, both fertility and mortality are high, and the rate of population growth is
very slow. Many societies were in the “pre-transitional” stage prior to the 1800’s. Current examples of
pre-transitional societies are Angola, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Uganda (all are African nations).

7.2. Early Transition

The early transition is a phase of high birth rates but falling death rates, leading to rapid population
growth rates. The More Developed countries entered this phase in the early 1800’s, and most
developing countries were in this phase prior to 1970. Current examples of countries in Early
Transition are: Benin, Guinea, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia.

7.3. Transitional

The transitional phase is marked by declining fertility and fairly low mortality rates, with moderate to
slow population growth rates. The Transitional/less developed countries entered this phase in the
1970’s and 1980’s, and many are still in this phase. Examples: Botswana, Bangladesh, Cambodia,
Jordan.

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 Within countries still in the high fertility stage, there are regions or cities which have entered this later
stage.

7.4. Post-Transitional

The final stage of the demographic transition is characterized by low birth and death rates, and a return
to very slow or negative growth rates. Many of the More Developed countries are now in this stage,
and many of the formerly “Less Developed.” Each stage is reflected by different fertility and mortality
levels, as well as different social, cultural, and economic behaviors and customs. Examples: Sri Lanka,
Mauritius, Guadeloupe, Uruguay, Kazakhstan, virtually all Western European countries, Canada, US,
Australia and New Zealand, Japan, Korea (both), China

Until societies reach the Post-transitional stage, demographic rates are in an evolutionary process
which the transition stages represent. Therefore, knowing the demographic transitional stage of a
society is very useful, as it provides guidelines for the likely demographic and social behaviours,
current and future.
While the demographic transition theory can be used to describe the most probable direction in which
demographic rates evolve over time, there are exceptions, and they primarily occur with regard to
mortality. Reversals in the mortality transition have been documented in association with widespread
famines and long lasting wars, and now in many Sub-Saharan African nations, with the AIDS
epidemic. For these countries, the demographic transition is stalled, if not reversed, as mortality rates
climb and life expectancy plummets, sending countries like Botswana back from transitional to early
transitional status.

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 Note: Natural increase or decrease is the difference between the number of births and deaths. The birth
rate is the number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. The death rate is the number of
deaths per 1,000 population in a given year.

Source: Carl Haub and Toshiko Kaneda, 2011 World Population Data Sheet (Washington, DC:
Population Reference Bureau, 2013); and (for burials in 1693 and 1694): E.A. Wrigley, Population and
History (New York: McGraw Hill, 1969).

 More Developed Countries = Post transitional

 Developing = Transitional
 Least Developed = Early transition or pre-transitional.
8. Scope of Demography

The scope of demography is very wide. It includes the subject matter of the followings –

8.2. Size of the population

Demography is fundamentally study and form of its size. The students of population study are
interested in studying the size of population. The changes that are taking place in the size of
population. In this aspect three important components should bear in mind:

8.1.1. Size
Size may affect because of higher or lower birth and death rates and migration factors. These affect the
size of the population.

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 8.1.2. Place
The population studies explain the population phenomenon that take place, situations and the changes
in the contents of biological, social, economical settings.

8.1.3. Time

The size and time do not remain same. The population changes from time to time and it depends on
socio economic conditions.

8.2. Composition of Populations

This includes the measurable characters of population in a country during a particular period. The
characters of the population are age, sex, marital status, educational level, religion, caste, race, health
etc. The demographic study tries to find out the changes in the characters which influences on size and
distribution of population because its characters generally change. The demographic studies not only
study the changing factors but also the variables responsible for the change.

82.1. Distribution of Populations

The distribution of population generally studies a particular geographical area. It includes percentage
and density of population. The factors affecting population distributions are geographical location,
social position, economy etc. it also studies by classification of residence, including rural and urban
residence pattern, growth of urbanisation, ratio of urban and rural population, locality and residence
inhabitancies etc. Demographic studies are conducted to see the trends of population distribution and
also study the density and the percentage causes and factors affecting the population.

8.2.2. Fertility, Mortality and Migration

The important variables like birth rate, birth order, family size, sterility, contraception etc.
Demographic studies the influence of biological limits by social norms upon fertility. It also studies the
reproductive span in addition to the psychological, social and cultural factors affecting the fertility,
interval between two conception, abortion, etc. Another important field of studies is Mortality; it
includes studies of sex, age pattern, cause of death, level and trends of mortality and difference in
mortality such as rural urban etc.

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 Migration studies the general trends of migration, migration movements, place of origin and
destination, migration intervals. It also studies differential migration as age, sex, marital status, and
educational attainment, national and international migration.

8.2.3. Labour force

The study is made of economically active population both employed and unemployed.

8.2.4. Social demography

It includes the study of demographical aspect of social institutions particularly family and marriage.
The study of marriage includes marital status, age at marriage, time and trend, marriage frequency,
marriage by religious group, educational level etc.

8.2.5. Population Policies

The development of country today is very much dependent upon population policies. Population
policies include philosophy, guiding principal, organisational structure and service and supplies,
educational motivation, family planning target and family planning progress and achievement etc.
population policies in different country are developing according to local requirement (UC Berkeley
Demography department website).

9. Relationship of Demography with other Disciplines

9.1. Relationship with Sociology

Sociology studies the demographic events in the perspective of social norms, for example, it studies
births with reference to wedlock. Societies are population but more importantly populations are
societies. Fertility behaviour is a socially motivated behaviour and natural selection of mates in human
societies (as against in animals) is a social selection. Differential fertility, mortality, migration,
distribution of population density and even the level of economic development are conditioned by
social factors. Social demography however is only an area of interest and not a separate demography.
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 Conception control programmes succeed only in so far as they are accepted by the society. In this
connection the socio-economic status of women plays a very important role. An educated woman will
prefer to have fewer children whom she can bring up well and give a better future. With the saying-
“When a man gets education, one person gets educated; but, when a woman gets educated, a family
gets educated.”

Demography thus is not an impersonal science and it does not just collect facts and figures about births
and deaths. It studies the fertility, mortality and migration patterns of societies. In a case when a
demographer deals with birth statistics he/she has to remember that each of the figures represents a son
or a daughter, when he deals with deaths he has to remember that each represents a tragedy, when he
deals with migration he has to remember that it means a movement of homes; when he deals with
marriage he has to remember that he is dealing with a basic institution of human society.

9.2. Relationship with Geography

Geography is the science of spatial distribution of resources and population, with the emphasis now
gradually shifting from the “physical” to the “human side”. The “anthropocentric” view of geography
is gaining over the “geocentric” viewpoint. Population Geography a sub branch coming under
Geography came during 1950 , which deals with the ways in which the geographic character of places
is formed by, and in tern reacts upon , a set of population phenomena that vary within it through both
space and time as they follow their own behavioural laws, interacting one with other and with
numerous non demographic factors. The inclusions are mainly –

A) Location and characteristics of population B) Spatial pattern in population distribution. C) Inter

relationship between population and other elements of geographic environment.

Geographers can seek understanding of the evolution of the earths distributions in the evolution of the
earth’s distributions in the operation of at least eight different physical, biotic and cultural processes:

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 A) Movement of soil mantel B) Movement of water over land C) Climate D) Biotic processes,
particularly vegetation E) Demographic movement F) Organisational evolution G) Development of
resource converting techniques H) Changes in the space contents. Demographic movement is at the
heart of these forces which influence the change in space content.

Geographers interest in demography and population studies is a phenomenon of post-fifties of 20th

century. Geography deals with geo-climatic studies and the settlement of towns and villages.
Demography and Geography both studies - a) Interface between spatial distribution of population and
the patterns of fertility, mortality and migration as also the b) Cropping pattern as it depends on the
geo-climatic conditions and determines the food supplies for supporting population. Geographers study
the process of urbanisation but do not study the urbanity or urbanism as it affects the fertility decisions.

9.3. Relationship with Demography and Human Ecology

Population lives in an environment adjusting to it and changing it, too at the same time. Human
ecologists nowadays do not furnish just a biological explanation of population but also take into
consideration the socio-cultural aspects of population. Cooperation between demographers and human
ecologists can go a long way towards solving of variety of problems faced by mankind.

Ecology is also known as “Bio-demography”. Biological explanations of human fertility and effect of
density of population on human fertility are subjects of ecology and demography. The relationship
between various species, between food and fertility and between predator prey, host parasite all are
correlated study of ecology and population. Ecology tells us that parasites with low survival
possibilities in their complex life have high fertility. In case of human beings too there is a positive
correlation between high fertility and high mortality.

In recent years both the subjects are being studied in close association. A demographer has virtually
become human ecologist and has as great concern in environment as ecologist. Ecology is in fact bio-

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 demography. Ecologists are very hardliners “neo-Malthusians” and they are in the forefront in
propounding the “Limits to Growth” theses. The essence of theses is that massive degradation in
environment and ecology suggests that “limits to growth” have been reached. Ecologists are worried
about the exhaustion of the non renewable resources and suggest control on population.

9.4. Relationship with Demography and Cultural studies

Demography and culture are closely related and demographic differences can partly be explained to
cultural differences. Culture is uniquely in identifiable social organisation, even to the point of
considering them to be isolates. Culture comes with society and society gets identifiable character due
to culture. Culture is an artistic expression of human experience; it is related to a body of autonomous
tradition and a set of coherently pattered behaviour and is a determiner of human action. Culture is a
symbolic system erected on a given super structural and infrastructural system. A lot of demographic
theorizing is psychological at its roots. Cultural traits of he advanced groups are emulated by others
and progressive culture induces progressive changes in demographic behaviour.

Culture may explain why communities or persons living under apparently identical economic
conditions but differing in language and tradition thus often behave very differently demographically.
It can also explain why a cultural group behaves the same way demographically when the economic
conditions are changing.

Culture identifies a social group, it is related to a body of autonomous tradition and a set of coherently
patterned behaviour and is a determiner of human action. Malthus had clearly explained the fertility
differences between the Englishmen and Chinese to cultural differences. Different cultural groups have
different demographic pattern and mentality, which is transmitted from generation to generation,
although having some differences. Culture is a complex whole of learned behaviour and is a part of the
socio-economic context. Fertility behaviour is explained by biological traits and partly by cultural

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 traits. Culture is uniquely located in identifiable social organisations, even to the point of considering
them to be isolated. Culture comes from society and society gets identifiable character due to culture.

Culture is a symbolic system erected on a given super structural and infrastructural system. Amongst
the poor classes, a child is more an asset because very little is spent on his/her education and the child
starts performing the economic function (earning some money or participating in money earning
activities) from an early age. Hence a nexus can be found between cultural and socio-economic
conditions and high fertility in such cases.

9.5. Relationship of Demography with Evolutionary studies

Demography studies the demographic evolutionary process i.e. the transition of a society from the high
birth rates and high death rate economy/society to the low birth rate and low death rate
economy/society. Transition theory views all modern demographic trends as responses to the nexus of
structural changes called the modernisation process it explains the population dynamics.

9.6. Relationship of Demography and Physical Anthropology

Anthropologists discuss demographic problems not of the world but of different sub-groups of
population. Contemporary Physical anthropology takes interests in many demographic topics- fertility,
mortality, mating, migration and population numbers. Most physical anthropologists today interpret
both long term human evolution and on going biological differentiation of local populations in terms of
changes in gene frequency. They have borrowed from population genetics what appears to be an
extensive list of the determinate modes of changes in gene frequency- mutation, selection, gene flow,
random genetic drift and selective mutation.

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 Morphological techniques of physical anthropology can provide unique background information with
time depth on certain demographically interesting aspects of extinct population through skeletal
studies.

Most of the physical anthropologist today interpret both long term human evolution and on going
biological differentiation of local populations in terms of changed in gene frequency.

9.7. Relationship of Demography and Population Genetics

Some topics of common interest like genetic mutation, inbreeding, endogamous breeding, assortative
mating, gene flow are studied in both the disciplines Population genetics has proved that the father
alone is responsible for the sex of the child where as the mother supplies only the X chromosomes
while the father supplies X/Y chromosomes. XX combination results in the birth of a daughter while
XY combination results in the birth of a son.

A sperm fertilizes ova, 23 pairs of chromosomes constitute themselves, and a life starts. Chromosomes
inner composition ie in loci Genes are present on which the synthesis of protein for individual
formation is dependent on the information contained in a number of genes. The synthesis and
manufacturing is mainly programmed through genes. The change in genetic composition is through
marriage, which ultimately changes genetic configuration within the same population. Broadly
speaking there are two categories of genes, the dominant and the recessive. A dominant gene (either
from mother or father) can display its character in one single allele. The recessive gene can only
display its character if it exists in double allele (from father and mother both). Thus consanguineous
marriages encourage the appearance of recessive characters, for this the couple stand a greater chance
of transmitting to their offspring the identical recessive genes that they inherit from their common
ancestors. Thus genetic biology is influenced by sociology too (marriage customs, fertility pattern,
migration habits and public health habits).

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 10. Importance of Demography

With the majority of developing countries facing population explosion, the study of population and its
problems has become very important in every sphere of an economy.
10.1. For the Economy
The study of demography is of immense importance to an economy. Population studies help us to
know how far the growth rate of the economy is keeping pace with the growth rate of population. If
population is increasing at a faster rate, the pace of development of the economy will be slow. The
government can undertake appropriate measures to control the growth of population and to accelerate
the development of the economy.
Rapid population growth reduces per capita income, lowers the standard of living, plunges the
economy into mass unemployment and under employment, brings environmental damage and puts a
burden on existing social infrastructure. Population studies highlight these problems of the economy to
be solved by the government.
10.2. For Society
Population studies have much importance for the society. When population is increasing rapidly, the
society is faced with innumerable problems. Shortages of basic services like water, electricity,
transport and communications, public health, education, etc. arise.
Along with these, problems of migration and urbanisation are associated with the growing population
which further lead to the law and order problem. Faced with such problems which are the concomitant
result of population growth, the state and non-government social organisations can adopt appropriate
measures to solve them.
10.3. For Economic Planning
Data relating to the present trend in population growth help the planners in formulating policies for the
economic plan of the country. They are kept in view while fixing targets of agricultural and industrial
products, of social and basic services like schools and other educational institutions, hospitals, houses,
electricity, transport, etc.

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 Population data are also used by the planners to project future trends in fertility and to formulate policy
measures to control the birth rate.
Based on population data, projections are made about the increase in labour force, and the number of
people in the age-groups 1-15 years, 15-50 years and above in order to estimate the labour force
available for productive employment. This, in turn, helps in making estimates regarding employment to
be generated during the plan period.
10.4. For Administrators
Population studies are also useful for administrators who run the government. In under-developed
countries, almost all social and economic problems are associated with the growth of population. The
administrator has to tackle and find solutions to the problems arising from the growth of population.
They are migration and urbanisation which lead to the coming up of shanty towns, pollution, drainage,
water, electricity, transport, etc. in cities.
These require improvement of environmental sanitation, removal of stagnant and polluted water, slum
clearance, better housing, efficient transport system, clean water supply, better sewerage facilities,
control of communicable diseases, provision of medical and health services, especially in maternal and
child welfare by opening health centres, opening of schools, etc.
10.5. For Political System
The knowledge of demography is of immense importance for a democratic political system. It is on the
basis of the census figures pertaining to different areas that the demarcation of constituencies is done
by the election commission of a country. The addition to the number of voters after each election helps
to find out how many have migrated from other places and regions of the country.
Political parties are able to find out from the census data the number of male and female voters, their
level of education, their age structure, their level of earning, etc. On these basis, political parties can
raise issues and promise solutions in their election manifestos at the time of elections.
Further, it is on the basis of male and female voters in an area that the election commission establishes
election booths for voters and appoints the election staff.

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Introduction to Demography
Anthropology
 11. Summary
Demography is the study of human population dynamics. It encompasses the study of the size,
structure and distribution of populations, and how populations change over time due to births, deaths,
migration, and aging. Demography employs scientific methods of studying cause and effect
relationships and has its own techniques of interpreting the past and present variables so that they can
be used for projecting future population dynamics. Demographers are interested in changes in human
populations, demographers focus on specific indicators of change. Two of the most important
indicators are birth and death rates, which are also referred to as fertility and mortality. Additionally,
demographers are interested in migration trends or the movement of people from one location to
another.

Demographers have identified a long-term evolution of demographic processes, known as the

Demographic Transition. The Demographic Transition is key to being able to portray the demographic
“status” of a society in terms of its fertility and mortality levels. There are 4 main stages of the
demographic stages. In terms of Demographic pattern from past the stages portrays about more
developed countries shows post transitional phase, developing countries shows transitional phase and
least developed countries shows early transition or pre-transitional stages worldwide.

Demographers make use of studying population trends, developing theories of population change, and
analyzing the causes and consequences of population trends. Various demographic measures such as
ratios, percentages, rates, and averages may be derived from them. The resulting demographic data can
then be used to describe the distribution of the population in space, its degree of concentration or
dispersion, the fluctuations in its rate of growth, and its movements from one area to another.

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Introduction to Demography
Anthropology