Chapter 1: Canada's Population in a Global Context

The Study of Population

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: 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

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

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

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)

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

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: 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

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

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

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

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
Timing: the age at which these events occur
Intensity: the number of persons involved
Period perspective: emphasis on some phenomenon occurring at a given point in time or time interval

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