Demographic Study

Science > Biology > Human Population and Population Control > Demographic Study

The word ‘Demography’ is a combination of two Greek words, ‘Demos’ meaning people and ‘Graphy’ meaning science. Thus demography is the science of people.  Demography is the statistical and mathematical study of the size, composition, and spatial distribution of human populations and how these features change over time. Data are obtained from a census of the population and from registries: records of events like birth, deaths, migrations, marriages, divorces, diseases, and employment.

Demographic analysis can be applied to whole societies or to groups defined by criteria such as education, nationality, religion, and ethnicity.

Objectives of Demography:

• To achieve knowledge about the size, composition, organization and distribution of the population.
• To study the trend of population growth which describes the past evolution present distribution and future changes in the population of an area.
• To study the trend of population growth and the population distribution, which describes the trends of population and its relationships with the different aspects of social parameters like education level, extent of urbanization, employment, living standard, etc. in an area.
• To protect the future demographic evaluation and its probable consequences.

Terminology of Demography:

• Crude Birth Rate: The annual number of live births per 1,000 people is called the crude birth rate.
• General Fertility Rate: The annual number of live births per 1,000 women of childbearing age (often taken to be from 15 to 49 years old, but sometimes from 15 to 44) is called the general fertility rate.
• Age-specific Fertility Rates: The annual number of live births per 1,000 women in particular age groups (usually age 15-19, 20-24, etc.) is called the age-specific fertility rate.
• Crude Death Rate: The annual number of deaths per 1,000 people is called the crude death rate.
• Infant Mortality Rate: The annual number of deaths of children less than 1 year old per 1,000 live births is called infant mortality rate.
• Expectation of Life (or Life Expectancy):  The number of years which an individual at a given age could expect to live at present mortality levels is called life expectancy.
• Total Fertility Rate: The number of live births per woman completing her reproductive life if her childbearing at each age reflected current age-specific fertility rates is called total fertility rate.
• Replacement Level Fertility: The average number of children a woman must have in order to replace herself with a daughter in the next generation.
• Gross Reproduction Rate: The number of daughters who would be born to a woman completing her reproductive life at current age-specific fertility rates is called the gross reproduction rate.
• Net Reproduction Ratio: It is the ratio of the expected number of daughters, per newborn prospective mother, who may or may not survive to and through the ages of childbearing.
• Stable Population: A population that has had constant crude birth and death rates for such long time that the percentage of people in every age class remains constant, or equivalently, the population pyramid has an unchanging structure.
• Stationary Population: it is the population that is both stable and unchanging in size (the difference between the crude birth rate and the crude death rate is zero).
• Bio-demography: Bio-demography is a new branch of human (classical) demography concerned with understanding the complementary biological and demographic determinants of and interactions between the birth and death processes that shape individuals, cohorts and populations.

Importance of Demography:

For the Economy:

It helps to understand the growth rate of the economy and the growth rate of the population. If the population is increasing at a faster rate, the pace of development of the economy will be slow. In such a case, the government has to undertake corrective measures to control the growth of population and to accelerate the development of the economy. Rapid population growth reduces per capita income, lowers the standard of living, resulting in mass unemployment and underemployment. It may cause environmental damage and puts an extra burden on existing social infrastructure. Hence we can conclude that the study of demography is very important to an economy.

For Economic Planning:

Data relating to the present trend in population growth help the planners in formulating policies for the economic plan of the country for the future. Considering the population growth rate targets of agricultural and industrial products, of social and basic services like schools and other educational institutions, hospitals, houses, electricity, transport, etc. are fixed. In case of high population growth rate, it is used in formulating a policy to control the birth rate.

For Society:

Rapid population growth reduces per capita income, lowers the standard of living, resulting in mass unemployment and underemployment. It puts stress on basic services like water, electricity, transport and communications, public health, education, etc. It may also result in migration and unplanned urbanization which further lead to unavailability of civic amenities and the law and order problem. Hence to have a check on this problem, there is a necessity of the study of demography.

For Administrators / Government:

In under-developed countries, almost all social and economic problems are associated with the growth of population. The government has to tackle and find solutions to the problems arising from the growth of population. Rapid population growth leads to unplanned urbanization which further leads to problems like coming up of shanty towns, pollution, drainage, water, electricity, transport, etc. in cities.

For Political System:

The information obtained through the study of demography is used by the election commission to the demarcation of constituencies. It also gives information about the increase and decrease in the number of voters. Political parties can frame their policies and election manifestos at the time of elections.

Features of Human Population of India:

Large Size and Fast Growth:

Indian population is of large size and of rapid growth. India’s population was 23.6 crore in 1901. According to the 2011 census, the population of India is 121.08 crore. In terms of size, it is the second largest population in the world, next only to China. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in the country with almost 200 million people. Sikkim is the least populous state with 6,07,688 people.  The population growth rate for 2019 is projected at 1.08%.

Rapidly Rising Population Density:

The density of the population means the average number of people living per square kilometer.  The population density of India in 2011 was 382 per sq km. The density of population was decreased in between 2001 and 2011.

Sex Ratio Composition Unfavourable to Female:

Sex ratio refers to the number of females per thousand males. India’s position is quite different than in other countries. In the Population Census of 2011, it was revealed that the population ratio of India 2011 is 943 females per 1000 of males.

Bottom heavy Age Structure:

The ratio of persons in the age group 0-14 is relatively high. Share of population in the age group 0-14 is 26.58 percent. Share of the economically active population (15-59 years) is 63.34 percent. 10.08% of Indian has age more than 60 years. Hence there is a load on economically active population.

Predominance of Rural Population:

68.86% Indian lives in rural areas and 31.14% lives in urban areas. 

Low Literacy Level:

Literacy Level in India is low. The literacy rate in the country is 74.04 percent, 82.14 for males and 65.46 for females. Kerala retained its position by being on top with a 93.91 percent literacy rate, closely followed by Lakshadweep (92.28 percent) and Mizoram (91.58 percent).

Low Life Expectancy:

By life expectancy, we mean the average number of years a person is expected to live. The present (2016) life expectancy is 68.56 years. The decline in death rate, the decline in infant mortality rate and general improvement in medical facilities, etc. have improved the life expectancy. However, life expectancy is lower in India as compared to the life expectancy of the developed nations. Life expectancy is 80 year in Japan and 78 years in Norway.

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