1. Demography and Population Calculations

2. How do we get population information?
Censuses – a collection of data about a population
Started in early Roman times
Doomsday Book – England 1066 – one of the best known modern tallies of population
Collected through enumerators that go door-to-door (LDC’s), or deliver censuses that are to be mailed back to the government (Canada)

3. What kind of information is collected?
population gender
religion age nationality occupation language home ownership education marital status household income possessions

4. Inaccuracies with data collection
Homelessness
Fear of entering slums and crime-ridden areas
Isolation
Confusion
Privacy Issues
Reputation
Interpretation of questions and data

5. Problems that result from inaccuracies
Unfair political representation
Unfair levels of funding
Lack of funding for homeless people
Faulty economic policies
Difficulty in comparing nations

6. How often do we conduct a census?
Frequency varies depending on the nation and their resources. It is very expensive and it requires a lot of people to collect data.
In Canada – every 5 years
Statistics Canada employs 4000, 500 in the census dept.
50,000 short-term contracts in a census year to work as enumerators (Canada).

7. Population Distribution
Describes how people actually settle in a given area.
Distribution patterns can be described in four ways:
1) Scattered 3) Clustered
2) Even 4) Linear

8. Population Density The number of people living in an area.
Does not consider the area that is not liveable (only total land area).
A more precise and useful calculation would be the population density of arable land.

9. Important Population Calculations
Birth Rate: measures the total # of births in a year per thousand.
Total births/Total population x 1000

10. Important Population Calculations
Death Rate: measures the total # of deaths in a year per 1000
Total deaths/Total Population x 1000
Death rates have been falling throughout the world.
The typical death rate for less developed nations is about 16/1000.
Canada is 7/1000.
Young children under 1 year of age are more vulnerable to disease and death than older children.

11. Important Population Calculations
Infant Mortality Rate:
# of deaths of infants (<1 year old) per 1000 births.
9/1000 (Canada)
In LDC’s can be as high as /1000.
Total Infant deaths/Total live births x 1000

12. Important Population Calculations
Life expectancy: average life span.
High in the developed countries, (Canada 75), and low in the less developed countries, (Gambia 43).
is increasing in most countries and the female average is 3-4 years more than males.
To compensate for this male babies normally outnumber females by 5% throughout the world.

13. Important Population Calculations
Dependency Ratio: Can be determined from a population pyramid and is based on the assumption that most members of certain age groups of a population (the very young and the very old) do not work
The working age is generally between 15 and 64.

14. Important Population Calculations
Dependency Ratio =
% under 15 + %over 64
% of potential labour force (15-64)
Example: Canada 1961
/57.8= 0.73
Each member of the potential labour force supports him/herself plus 0.73 additional people (or 73 dependents for every 100 people in the labour force)

15. Important Population Calculations
Is this accurate?
Many Canadians stay in school until their early-late 20’s
Many others retire before they are 65

16. Important Population Calculations
Half of Libya’s population is under 15. 2% is 65 and over. What is the dependency ratio?
15% of Japan’s population is under % is 65 and over. How many dependants are there for every 100 people in the labour force?