PHS 204: Demography and Social Statistics Flashcards

Flashcards covering the definitions, sources, and theoretical frameworks of demographic data, including the Malthusian Theory and the five stages of the Demographic Transition Model.

Demographic data

Information about groups of people according to attributes such as age, sex, and place of residence, which can include socioeconomic factors like occupation, family status, or income.

Demographic analysis

The study of a population based on factors such as age, race, and sex.

Main Sources of Demographic Data

The three primary integrated sources for statistical data collection are Censuses, Surveys, and Administrative records.

Population Census

The total process of collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing and publishing or otherwise disseminating demographic, economic and social data pertaining to all persons in a country or a well-delimited part of a country at a specified time.

Household Surveys

A flexible mechanism for collecting detailed social, economic, and housing data on a continuing basis to meet emerging data needs that may not be appropriate for a full-scale census.

Administrative Records

Statistics compiled from various administrative processes, including education statistics from school records, health statistics from hospital records, and employment statistics.

Vital Statistics

Data recorded in a civil registration system concerning events such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces, separations, annulment, and adoption.

Demography

The science of populations.

Demographic Processes

The three main dynamics investigated by demographers: birth, migration, and aging (which includes death).

Fecundity

A statistical parameter used in demography to measure birth rates.

Mortality

A statistical parameter used in demography to measure death rates.

Malthusian Theory of Population

The theory propounded by Thomas Robert Malthus proposing that population grows exponentially while food supply grows arithmetically, requiring balance through preventive and positive checks.

Demographic Transition Theory (DTT)

A theory propounded by W.S. Thomson and F.W. Notestein stating that societies progress from a pre-modern regime of high fertility and mortality to a post-modern regime of low fertility and mortality.

Stage 1 (High stationary)

The pre-industrial stage where both birth and death rates are high, leaving the population stationary; it is associated with countries that are economically most weak.

Stage 2 (Early expanding)

Characterized by a declining death rate due to improvements in food supply and health care, while the birth rate remains high, resulting in a huge population increase.

Stage 3 (Late expanding)

A stage where the death rate declines further and birth rates begin to fall due to factors like contraceptive access and women empowerment, though the birth rate still exceeds the death rate.

Stage 4 (Low Stationary)

A stage featuring both low birth and death rates, where natural population growth is low and the population pyramid resembles a rectangle.

Stage 5 (Declining)

A stage in the demographic cycle characterized by a birth rate lower than the death rate, causing the population to decline.

Demographic Sample Surveys Examples

Specific survey types including the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) and National Family Health Surveys.

Zero Population Growth

A phenomenon recorded in Austria during the period of $1980-85$, associated with the Fourth Stage of the Demographic Transition Model.