Notes1

Introduction to Population and Society

There are three main ways that the population changes: mortality, fertility and migration.
Demographers study changes according to demographic characteristics, which include age and sex, family, marital status, race, education, labor, occupation, religion, and urban transition.
There are several good reasons to study demography:
Food – Food production may not keep pace with population growth.
Energy – More people mean more energy consumption for food production, heating and cooling, transportation and production of consumer goods.
Housing – The cost and availability of land, lumber, cement and fuel becomes a problem with increased demand.
Environment – More people means more pollution including acid rain, global warming and holes in the ozone layer, pollution of hydrosphere including coral reefs, fresh water, fish in the ocean, problems in the lithosphere including toxic waste degradation, loss of top soil, desertification, deforestatin.
Infrastructure – Can governments provide enough clean water, transportation, communications, electricity and take care of the garbage and sewage?
Urbanization and Unemployment – Will there be enough jobs for so many people? With more people will the opportunities be evenly distributed, or will some have access to more employment and higher paying employment? Will large numbers of people end up as slum dwellers as a result of unequal distribution of employment and finances?
Age Cohorts – Will societies be able to accommodate to the needs of the increasing number of elderly? Will societies with increasing numbers of children and adolescents be able to provide adequate care for their youth?
Regulations – More people mean more rules needed to live together peacefully.
Are there more people alive today than have ever lived? William Matthews believes that to be the case. It is a controversial question on which researchers do not agree. Another researcher named Nathan Ketfitz believes that there have been 60 billion people born in 200,000 years. There are approximately 6 billion alive today, so that is 10% of the total number of persons ever born. What do you think? Use the approximate population chart below for your answer.
Rapidly increasing population growth in modern times is largely due to declines in death rates – both of infants and of adults. There are fewer lethal diseases today, people have access to better and more nutritious food, we have better sanitation – both personal and communal, immunization and medical treatments reduce the risk of illness.
Population groups around the world have been altered by the explorers and settlers from Europe starting in the 14^th century. In 1930, 35% of the world’s population were Americans and Europeans. Today they are 16%.
Today people from less developed parts of the world have a much higher fertility rate (more babies born each year) and as a consequence, are becoming the largest population groups worldwide.
Cities have become larger and larger in the last 200 years. In 100 AD, Rome was likely the largest city in the world with a population of 650,000. In 1800, only 1% of the population of the world lived in cities of 100,000 or more. Today more than 90% of the people in industrialized countries live in urban areas.
China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil are the five most populous countries in the world. Forty-eight percent of all the world’s people live in the five countries, yet they have only 21% of the world’s land.
Asia has approximately 60% of the world’s people.

Africa has approximately 11% of the world’s people.
Europe has approximately 12% of the world’s people.
North America has approximately 5% of the world’s people. US is 270 million.
South America has approximately 5% of the world’s people.
Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand) had 1% of the world’s people.

Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Indonesia are the countries with the fastest growing population.
Immigration became an important factor in the US in the mid 19^th century, which was good for the US because national fertility rates had fallen to a rate indicating an actual decline in the overall population.
Life expectancy in Canada is about 3 years longer than in the US.
Mexico and other Central American countries have been growing in population due to declining death rates and high birth rates.
Japan has a low mortality rate and low fertility rate. A high percentage of women are of child bearing age, so the number of babies born each year is more than the number who die.

Approximate Population Growth Throughout History
    Year                     Approximate Population
    8000 BC                    4 million
    6000 BC                    7 million
    3000 BC                  14 million
    2000 BC                  27 million
    1000 BC                  50 million
    500 BC                  100 million
    1 AD                      211 million
    1450                      400 million
    1770                      800 million
    1900                   1,654 million
    1960                   3,039 million
    2000                   6,081 million
    2050 (projected) 9,309 million
Source: Population, by John Weeks, 1999, Wadsworth Publishing Co

Census counts were taken in ancient civilizations of Egypt, Babylonia, China, India and Rome. Many of the governments took census for the purposes of taxing the citizens. Mohammed took a census of his followers in the 7^th century. William of Normandy took a census count in 1086. The data recorded in the Doomesday Book was irrevocable, but did not record individuals, but rather households.
In the US census methods have improved dramatically within the last century. In 1970, it is estimated that only 2% of the people were not counted. In 1980 an estimated 1.4% were missed, and in 1990 an estimated 2.1% were missed. In 1990 only 74% of the adults mailed in their surveys.
The census is a count of the total population, unlike Gallup polls and other studies which use a sample population that represents the whole population.
Demographers estimate the population growth from the last census to figure out what it should be at the next census – thus estimating how many people were not counted. Growth is based on the count of births, deaths, and migrants.
Demographers also compare the census results to the results from a scientifically selected sample to determine the accuracy of the total results.
Canada and Mexico also conduct national census at regular intervals.
Registration of vital events (birth, marriage, death) used to be a job of the church, but is now part of the government records.
Data collected by a lot of different people in a non-standardized form is not necessarily easy to study scientifically.
Two private firms – ESRI (Environmental Systems Research Institute) and GDT (Geographic Data Technology) assist the government in analyzing and keeping track of census data.
More census data is available on paper than on the internet.
The UN publishes the Demographic Yearbook every year.
Statistical Abstract of the United States is the best source of info about the US.

Also: Population Index is a good bibliographical tool for demographers.

Other publications include:

American Demographics

Population and Development Review

Population Research

Policy Review

Family Planning Perspectives

International Family Planning Perspectives

Demography

Population Studies

Studies in Family Planning

Population and Environment

Genus

European Journal of Population

International Journal of Population Geography

Social Biology

International Migration Review