Unit 1: Demography (Socio Paper 3)
[A]
The word demography comes from two Ancient Greek words- “demos”
meaning the people and “graphy” meaning writing about/recording
something. Literally demography means writing about the people.
A demographer is an expert in the study of statistics related to the change in
the structure of human population, specially w.r.t. size, density, distribution
and vital statistics. In the simplest sense demography is statistical study of
human population. It is useful for govt and private businesses as a means of
analysing and predicting social, cultural and economic trends related to
population.
The term demography was first coined by a Belgian statistician, Achille
Guillard in 1855 in his publication “Elements De Statistique Humaine ous
demography compare”. John Graunt (24th April 1622 - 18th April 1671) is the
founder of demography in the world. Henry Walter is known as the Father of
Indian Census or Demography. The first census in India began in 1872 under
the British viceroy Lord Mayo. Census is taken every 10 years in India and
after 1949 it has been conducted by The Registrar General and Census
Commissioner of India under Ministry of Health Affairs, Govt. of India.
Nature, Scope & Importance of Demography:
Educational institutions usually consider demography as a field of Sociology,
although there are a number of independent demographic characteristics
which need to be considered. It is important to understand the difference
between demography and population studies as there is a thin line of
difference between the two. Population studies can be explained as a study
of a group or individuals taken from the general population data who share
common characteristics such as age, sex or health conditions. Demography
is the study of population and in particular, formal demography limits the
object of studying to the measurement of population processes whereas
social demography analyses the relationships b/w the various processes
influencing the population.
Features of Demography:
Demography is v general in nature; there is no unanimity on the topic of
demography whether it is arts or science or whether it is studied at micro or
macro level, however, in recent years, the subject matter of demography has
become quite vast. On the basis of this premise we can say that the study of
demography includes the following-
1. Size & Shape: generally speaking population size means typically
designing at a given time in a defined region the methodology or tools of
, data collection (changes place to place, time to time). The size and shape of
any country or nation are variable in nature (subject to changes). This is
because every country has its own unique traditions, specialities, socio-
economic circumstances, cultural environment, moral values, etc.
2. Aspects related to Birth/Death Rates: birth/death rates are the decisive
factors that influence the size and shape of the population and therefore
their importance in population studies is crucial.
3. Composition and Density of population: in the composition of
population, factors like sex ratio, race-wise and age group-wise size of
population, rural-urban popln ratio, popln distribution according to language,
occupation, agriculture and industry are also very important.
4. Quantitative/Qualitative aspects: this refers to aspects like no. of
hospitals, beds in hospitals, doctors, daily availability of minimum calories,
adequate medical facility for delivery, etc.
Importance/Significance of Demography
Demographers try to understand popln dynamics through three main
demographic aspects i.e. Birth, Migration and Ageing (death). These 3
factors help the government to frame popln policies to take appropriate
measures for economic development. With majority of developing countries
facing popln explosion, the study of popln & its problems has become
important which can be discussed as follows-
1. For the economy: popln studies help us to know whether the growth
rate of the economy is keeping pace with the growth rate of popln. E.g. if
popln is increasing at a faster rate, the pace of development will be slow.
The government will have to undertake appropriate measures to control the
growth of popln and to accelerate the economy. This is because increasing
popln reduces per capita income, lowers the standard of living, plunges the
economy into mass unemployment and underemployment, damages the
environment and puts a burden on existing social infrastructure.
2. For the society: when popln is increasing rapidly, the society is faced
with innumerable problems like- shortage of water, electricity, transport and
communication, public health, education, etc. Besides these, the problems of
urbanisation and migration further increase the law and order problems and
it is then that the state govt has devised ways or adopted appropriate
measures to resolve them.
3. For economic planning: data relating to the present tense in popln
growth helps the planners in formulating policies for economic growth in the
country. The various aspects of popln have been kept in mind while fixing
targets of agricultural or industrial production. While providing budget of
provision of basic services like school, other education; institutes, hospitals,
houses, electricity, transport, etc, this data is useful. Popln data is also used
by planners to project future trends in fertility and policies or suggest
measures to control birth rate.
[A]
The word demography comes from two Ancient Greek words- “demos”
meaning the people and “graphy” meaning writing about/recording
something. Literally demography means writing about the people.
A demographer is an expert in the study of statistics related to the change in
the structure of human population, specially w.r.t. size, density, distribution
and vital statistics. In the simplest sense demography is statistical study of
human population. It is useful for govt and private businesses as a means of
analysing and predicting social, cultural and economic trends related to
population.
The term demography was first coined by a Belgian statistician, Achille
Guillard in 1855 in his publication “Elements De Statistique Humaine ous
demography compare”. John Graunt (24th April 1622 - 18th April 1671) is the
founder of demography in the world. Henry Walter is known as the Father of
Indian Census or Demography. The first census in India began in 1872 under
the British viceroy Lord Mayo. Census is taken every 10 years in India and
after 1949 it has been conducted by The Registrar General and Census
Commissioner of India under Ministry of Health Affairs, Govt. of India.
Nature, Scope & Importance of Demography:
Educational institutions usually consider demography as a field of Sociology,
although there are a number of independent demographic characteristics
which need to be considered. It is important to understand the difference
between demography and population studies as there is a thin line of
difference between the two. Population studies can be explained as a study
of a group or individuals taken from the general population data who share
common characteristics such as age, sex or health conditions. Demography
is the study of population and in particular, formal demography limits the
object of studying to the measurement of population processes whereas
social demography analyses the relationships b/w the various processes
influencing the population.
Features of Demography:
Demography is v general in nature; there is no unanimity on the topic of
demography whether it is arts or science or whether it is studied at micro or
macro level, however, in recent years, the subject matter of demography has
become quite vast. On the basis of this premise we can say that the study of
demography includes the following-
1. Size & Shape: generally speaking population size means typically
designing at a given time in a defined region the methodology or tools of
, data collection (changes place to place, time to time). The size and shape of
any country or nation are variable in nature (subject to changes). This is
because every country has its own unique traditions, specialities, socio-
economic circumstances, cultural environment, moral values, etc.
2. Aspects related to Birth/Death Rates: birth/death rates are the decisive
factors that influence the size and shape of the population and therefore
their importance in population studies is crucial.
3. Composition and Density of population: in the composition of
population, factors like sex ratio, race-wise and age group-wise size of
population, rural-urban popln ratio, popln distribution according to language,
occupation, agriculture and industry are also very important.
4. Quantitative/Qualitative aspects: this refers to aspects like no. of
hospitals, beds in hospitals, doctors, daily availability of minimum calories,
adequate medical facility for delivery, etc.
Importance/Significance of Demography
Demographers try to understand popln dynamics through three main
demographic aspects i.e. Birth, Migration and Ageing (death). These 3
factors help the government to frame popln policies to take appropriate
measures for economic development. With majority of developing countries
facing popln explosion, the study of popln & its problems has become
important which can be discussed as follows-
1. For the economy: popln studies help us to know whether the growth
rate of the economy is keeping pace with the growth rate of popln. E.g. if
popln is increasing at a faster rate, the pace of development will be slow.
The government will have to undertake appropriate measures to control the
growth of popln and to accelerate the economy. This is because increasing
popln reduces per capita income, lowers the standard of living, plunges the
economy into mass unemployment and underemployment, damages the
environment and puts a burden on existing social infrastructure.
2. For the society: when popln is increasing rapidly, the society is faced
with innumerable problems like- shortage of water, electricity, transport and
communication, public health, education, etc. Besides these, the problems of
urbanisation and migration further increase the law and order problems and
it is then that the state govt has devised ways or adopted appropriate
measures to resolve them.
3. For economic planning: data relating to the present tense in popln
growth helps the planners in formulating policies for economic growth in the
country. The various aspects of popln have been kept in mind while fixing
targets of agricultural or industrial production. While providing budget of
provision of basic services like school, other education; institutes, hospitals,
houses, electricity, transport, etc, this data is useful. Popln data is also used
by planners to project future trends in fertility and policies or suggest
measures to control birth rate.
