led by Professor Alan Marshall
The course considers key social debates that flow from demographic change such as overpopulation, fertility decline, rural population sustainability and population ageing. You will learn about the demographic data and methods and theory that underpin such debates with hands-on opportunities to undertake analysis using real demographic data.
The course covers:
- Key social and political debates around demographic change
- Demographic Data and analysis of fertility (period and cohort), mortality (including life tables), migration
- Population Projections
- Emerging demographic methods and issues
By the end of the course participants will have:
- Understanding of the way demographic pattern and process influence our understanding of changing populations and of related social issues
- Knowledge and understanding of the key theory and principles underlying demographic analysis
- The ability to calculate and interpret a range of measures for demographic analysis
- The ability to access and use appropriate data sources for demographic analysis
- The ability to use demographic data sources and demographic method intelligently in a range of real world applications.
The course includes a set of practicals which involve downloading real demographic data and undertaking analysis using Excel. An understanding of the use of formulas in Excel is expected. An interest in demographic processes, and some knowledge of rudimentary statistics, will be helpful.