Demography is the scientific study of human populations, in particular their changing structure over time. The populations studied can be of individual towns or regions, countries, continents or the whole world. To do this, various statistics are collected and analysed — mainly concerning the overall population size, age and gender structure, geographical distribution and the ‘vital statistics’ of birth, marriage, death and migration. Statistics for some populations are easily obtainable and are reasonably or extremely accurate, while others, such as those for some developing countries, or for the extent of illegal immigration, or for the incidence of particular diseases, are more speculative.
Knowing how populations are changing allows policymakers to make important predictions about what resources might be needed in the future, such as more or fewer houses, schools, hospitals, medical staff, care homes, jobs, transport systems, etc. Comparing current statistics with those of the past allows social scientists to study the types of social change that have occurred, such as family types and size, or the impact of industrialisation on levels of urbanisation.
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