Demography is a term that denotes a science that studies the laws of population reproduction, as well as the historical conditionality of this process. This concept is most often used by sociologists and statisticians who keep records of the population within the framework of certain criteria (for example, gender, age, professional, etc.).
Instructions
Step 1
For the first time the term “demography” was mentioned in the book of the French scientist A. Guillard (“Elements of population statistics or comparative demography”). This concept became widespread in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. If we consider demography as a branch of scientific knowledge, then it has been developing and has existed for more than 300 years. The founder of demography as a science is an English scientist who was the first to build life tables for Londoners, relying on long-term statistics.
Step 2
The basic concept of demography is population. Another option is population. According to the demographic theory, the population is a set of people, a leading material component of society, which is formed historically and continuously renewed in the process of production and reproduction of life.
Step 3
How to understand population reproduction from the point of view of demographers? This is a process (one of the main ones) of the reproduction of society. Reproduction is the main and also the most characteristic property of the population. The study of the processes of population reproduction is directly the competence of demography (and only it).
Step 4
Demography also studies the processes of interaction between fertility, mortality, marriage and divorce, as well as the reproduction of the population as a whole. In addition, this science examines and deduces the patterns and social conditioning of these processes.
Step 5
In modern society, there is a difficult demographic situation, especially in the countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America, where there is a constant population growth and a consistently low quality of life. As a result, there is “contact” of demography with other sciences (sociology and economics) and a pronounced “gap” between the wealthy strata of the population and the poor.