Demography is a broad social science discipline concerned with the study of human populations. Demographers deal with the collection, presentation and analysis of information relating to the basic life-cycle events and experiences of people: birth, marriage, divorce, household and family formation, employment, ageing, migration and death. The discipline emphasises theoretical and empirical investigation of population processes, including the conceptualisation and measurement of these processes and the study of their determinants and consequences. Practitioners frequently draw on related disciplinary areas - sociology, economics, political science, anthropology, psychology, public health and ecology - to illuminate their analyses. They may explore biological and biosocial aspects of fertility and mortality in areas such as reproductive health and epidemiology.

 

The field of demography is also concerned with the broader nature of social and economic change, and with the impact of demographic change on the natural environment. The concepts of cohorts, life tables, event histories, population momentum and stable populations that have emerged from demography have made significant contributions to an understanding of social change. The demographic literature is also rich in coverage of broad topical studies of human resources; health and morbidity; family systems and family structure; the role of women; the value of children; and the social, cultural and institutional context of demographic change.