Chapter 1: Canada's Population in a Global Context

The Study of Population

Introduction

• The population problem: overpopulation
  • Peaked in 1960/1970 → population growth faster than ever
  • Effects on environment
  • Result = decline in population + industrial capacity
• Highly developed countries: trouble = below-replacement birth rate + low population growth
  • Population aging
• Developing countries: decline in population growth
• Least developed countries: high growth rates → aggravates poverty, unemployment, slow economic development
• Demographers: those who study population dynamics
• Aggregate manifestations/measures
  • Birth rate
  • Death rate
• 3 fundamental variables of demography:
  • Fertility
  • Mortality
  • Migration
• Other variables:
  • Age
  • Sex
• Highly industrialized countries: below-replacement fertility rate
  • Baby boom generation
• Canada - urban expansion
  • More automobiles → greenhouse gas emissions → pollution
• Importance of population for society

Population Defined

• Population: a collectivity of people co-existing within a prescribed geographic territory at a given point in time. The collectivity changes as a function of the interplay of migration, birth, and death processes

• Temporal continuity: people living today are descendants of many earlier generations

• Demographic metabolism: a continuing process of societal renewal through the fundamental demographic processes of birth, death, and in- and out-migration

• Census: a tool allowing to count the number of persons present in a given area at a specified time

  → Undercount!

  • Can identify:
  • Civilian population
  • Total resident population
  • Total population living abroad

• Attrition: losses through deaths and emigration

• Accession: gains through births and immigration

Formal Demography and Population Studies

• Demography: the scientific study of population and how population is affected by births, deaths, and migration
  • Divided in 2 aspects that are complementary:
  • Population studies
  • Formal demography
• Roland Pressat’s 3 core areas

^^Formal Demography^^

• Formal demography: the quantitative study of population in terms of growth, distribution, and development/change
  • How many people of what kind are where?

^^Population Studies^^

• Population studies: interplay between demography and other disciplines
  • Focuses on identifying determinants and consequences
  • How come? So what?

The Nature of Demographic Change

• Static analysis: focus on demographic conditions at a fixed point in time
• Dynamic analysis: study the change in demographic conditions over a period of time
  • Process variables: variables that reflect human behavioral processes (fertility, mortality, migration)

^^Change in Population Size^^

• Net migration: the net difference between the number of incoming and outgoing migrants
• Demographic balancing equation

^^Linear, Geometric, Exponential, and Logistic Models of Population Growth^^

• Linear model: assumes a straight-line progression of change over time
  • The population grows by the same amount between time points
  • Rate of change is constant
• Geometric/Exponential models: assume that growth follows a non-linear trend over time
  • Geometric model: growth occurs at discrete time points, such as the end of each year
  • Exponential model: assumes continuous compounding at discrete time points
• Logistic model: assumes that a human population undergoing prolonged exponential growth will eventually experience insupportable levels of population density, which will impose strains on resources and the environment; and under such conditions, society would be compelled to implement measures to curtail growth or face increased rates of mortality
  • Small population + low population density = increase rate of growth

^^Compositional Change^^

• Compositional change: change in the distribution of key population characteristics (age, sex, marital status, education, occupation)
• Age-sex pyramid: a graphic representation of the distribution of the population in terms of age and sex

Individual Behavior and Demographic Processes

^^Individual State Transitions as Demographic Behavior^^

• Multistate classification: intersection of statuses
• State transitions: moving in and out of statuses
  • Repeatable
  • Non-repeatable

^^Individual State Transitions and Demographic Rates^^

• Rate: a dynamic, quantifiable measure of risk given exposure to some specific events over some specified interval

^^Reclassification Processes^^

• Reclassification: a change in identification by individuals

Demographic Change and Social Change

• Social change has occurred when a social pattern is significantly different from what it has been in the past
  • Agents of social change: acts of individuals + changes in population
  • Processes: process of imitation + action of the mass media
• Normative behavior: when a behavior becomes a standard form of behavior

^^Age, Period, and Cohort: The Mechanisms of Demographic Change^^

• Biological aging: passage through life from birth to death
• Chronological aging: passage through biological and calendar time simultaneously
• Birth cohort: individuals who are born during a specified time interval and pass through biological and chronological time together

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• Timing: the age at which these events occur
• Intensity: the number of persons involved

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• Period perspective: emphasis on some phenomenon occurring at a given point in time or time interval

^^Cohorts and Generations^^

• Generation: one generation of parents produces a new generation of children…
  • Encompasses different birth cohorts that experience some significant defining societal experience
• Baby boom generation

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