demography terms

Abortion Rate

The number of abortions per 1,000 women ages 15-44 or 15-49 in a given year.

Abortion Ratio

The number of abortions per 1,000 live births in a given year

Age-Dependency Ratio

The ratio of persons in the ages defined as dependent (under 15 years and over 64 years) to persons in the ages defined as economically productive (15-64 years) in a population.

Age Structure

The proportion of the total population in each age group.

Age-Sex Structure

he composition of a population as determined by the number or proportion of males and females in each age category. The age-sex structure of a population is the cumulative result of past trends in fertility, mortality, and migration. Information on age-sex composition is essential for the description and analysis of many other types of demographic data. See also population pyramid

Age-Specific Rate

Rate obtained for specific age groups (for example, age-specific fertility rate, death rate, marriage rate, illiteracy rate, or school enrollment rate).

Aging of Population

A process in which the proportions of adults and elderly increase in a population, while the proportions of children and adolescents decrease. This process results in a rise in the median age of the population. Aging occurs when fertility rates decline while life expectancy remains constant or improves at the older ages

Antinatalist Policy

The policy of a government, society, or social group to slow population growth by attempting to limit the number of births.

Baby Boom

the larger than expected generation in United States born shortly after World War II

baby bust

A rapid decline in U.S. fertility rates to record-low levels during the period immediately after the baby boom.

Balancing Equation

A basic demographic formula used to estimate total population change between two points in time — or to estimate any unknown component of population change, provided that the other components are known. The balancing equation includes all components of population change: births, deaths, immigration, emigration, in-migration, and out-migration.

Birth Control

Practices employed by couples that permit sexual intercourse with reduced likelihood of conception and birth. The term birth control is often used synonymously with such terms as contraception, fertility control, and family planning. But birth control includes abortion to prevent a birth, whereas family planning methods explicitly do not include abortion.

Birth Rate (or crude birth rate)

The number of live births per 1,000 population in a given year. Not to be confused with the growth rate.

Birth Rate for Unmarried Women

The number of live births per 1,000 unmarried women (never married, widowed, or divorced) ages 15-49 in a given year.

brain drain

depletion or loss of intellectual and technical personnel

Carrying Capacity

The maximum sustainable size of a resident population in a given ecosystem.

Case Fatality Rate

The proportion of persons contracting a disease who die from it during a specified time period.

case rate

The number of reported cases of a specific disease per 100,000 population in a given year.

Cause-Specific Death Rate

The number of deaths attributable to a specific cause per 100,000 population in a given year.

Crude Rate

Rate of any demographic event computed for an entire population.

census

A canvass of a given area, resulting in an enumeration of the entire population and often the compilation of other demographic, social, and economic information pertaining to that population at a specific time.

childbearing years

he reproductive age span of women, assumed for statistical purposes to be 15-44 or 15-49 years of age.

child - woman ratio

The number of children under age 5 per 1,000 women ages 15-44 or 15-49 in a population in a given year. This crude fertility measure, based on basic census data,

closed population

A population with no migratory flow either in or out, so that changes in population size occur only through births and deaths.

Cohort

A group of people sharing a common temporal demographic experience who are observed through time. For example, the birth cohort of 1900 is the people born in that year.

Cohort Analysis

Observation of a cohort’s demographic behavior through life or through many periods

completed fertility rate

he number of children born per woman to a cohort of women by the end of their childbearing years.

Contraceptive Prevalence

Percentage of couples currently using a contraceptive method

Contraceptive Use

he percentage of currently married or “in union” women (unless otherwise indicated) of reproductive age who are currently using any form of contraception. Modern methods comprise clinic and supply methods, including the pill, injectable, implant, IUD, condom, and sterilization.

Death Rate (or crude death rate)

The number of deaths per 1,000 population in a given year.

Demographic Transition

The historical shift of birth and death rates from high to low levels in a population. The mortality decline usually precedes the fertility decline, resulting in rapid population growth during the transition period.

Dependency Ratio

A dependency ratio is the ratio of people in a dependent age group (those under age 15 or ages 65 and older) to those in the economically productive age group (ages 15 to 64) of a population. For instance, a child dependency ratio of 0.45 means there are 45 children for every 100 working-age adults.

Depopulation

The state of population decline.

The number of divorces per 1,000 population in a given year.

Divorce Rate (or crude divorce rate)

Double Dependency Moderate

child dependency and relatively high old-age dependency reflect above or near replacement fertility and declining mortality.

Doubling Time

The number of years required for the population of an area to double its present size, given the current rate of population growth.

Emigration Rate

The number of emigrants departing an area of origin per 1,000 population in that area of origin in a given year.

Economic Infrastructure

Economic infrastructure includes the internal facilities of a country that make business and financial activity possible, such as communication, transportation, and distribution networks; financial institutions and markets; and energy supply systems.

Family Planning

The conscious effort of couples to regulate the number and spacing of births through artificial and natural methods of contraception. Family planning connotes conception control to avoid pregnancy and abortion, but it also includes efforts of couples to induce pregnancy.

fecundity

The physiological capacity of a woman to produce a child.

Fertility

The actual reproductive performance of an individual, a couple, a group, or a population. See general fertility rate.

gender

Gender refers to the economic, social, political, and cultural attributes, constraints and opportunities associated with being a woman or a man. The social definitions of what it means to be a woman or a man vary among cultures and change over time. Gender is a sociocultural expression of particular characteristics and roles that are associated with certain groups of people with reference to their sex and sexuality.

Gender Equity

is the process of being fair to women and men.

gender equality

s the state or condition that affords women and men equal enjoyment of human rights, socially valued goods, opportunities, and resources.

genreal fertility rate

Gross National Income (GNI) GNI (formerly GNP)

s the sum of value added by all resident producers plus any product taxes (less subsidies) not included in the valuation of output plus net receipts of primary income (compensation of employees and property income) from abroad.

Gross Reproduction Rate (GRR)

The average number of daughters that would be born alive to a woman (or group of women) during her lifetime if she passed through her childbearing years conforming to the age-specific fertility rates of a given year.

growth rate

the number of people added to (or subtracted from) a population in a year due to natural increase and net migration expressed as a percentage of the population at the beginning of the time period.

High Child dependency

High fertility and relatively high mortality contribute to a large young population and a small old-age population.

High-Old-Age Dependency

Moderate child dependency and relatively high old-age dependency reflect above or near replacement fertility and declining mortality.

High-risk pregnancies

Pregnancies occurring under the following conditions: too closely spaces, too frequent, mother too young or too old, or accompanied by such high-risk factors as high blood pressure or diabetes.

immigration rate

The number of immigrants arriving at a destination per 1,000 population at that destination in a given year

incidence rate

The number of persons contracting a disease per 1,000 population at risk, for a given period of time.

Infant Mortality Rate

The number of deaths of infants under age 1 per 1,000 live births in a given year.

Life Expectancy

The average number of additional years a person could expect to live if current mortality trends were to continue for the rest of that person’s life. Most commonly cited as life expectancy at birth.

Life Span

The maximum age that human beings could reach under optimum conditions.

Life Table

A tabular display of life expectancy and the probability of dying at each age (or age group) for a given population, according to the age-specific death rates prevailing at that time. The life table gives an organized, complete picture of a population’s mortality.

Low Overall Dependency

Sustained immigration of working-age adults, with a small share of the population ages 65+, results in low overall dependency.

Male Involvement

means engaging men in actively promoting gender equity with regard to reproductive health, increases men’s support for women’s reproductive health and children’s well-being, and advances the reproductive health of both men and women.

Marital Fertility Rate

Number of live births to married women per 1,000 married women ages 15-44 or 15-49 in a given year.

Marriage Rate (or crude marriage rate)

The number of marriages per 1,000 population in a given year.

Maternal Mortality Ratio

The number of women who die as a result of pregnancy and childbirth complications per 100,000 live births in a given year.

Mean Age

The mathematical average age of all the members of a population.

Median age

The age that divides a population into two numerically equal groups; that is, half the people are younger than this age and half are older.

MENA Countries

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region that includes both the oil-rich economies in the Gulf and countries that are resource-scarce in relation to population. The region’s economic fortunes over much of the past quarter century have been heavily influenced by two factors: the price of oil and the legacy of economic policies and structures that had emphasized a leading role for the state. The MENA region includes: Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco. Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank and Gaza, and Yemen.

Mortality

Deaths as a component of population change.

Moderate Child Dependency

Declining fertility lowers child dependency to a moderate level; relatively high mortality keeps old-age dependency low.

Natality

Births as a component of population change.

Natural Increase (or Decrease

The surplus (or deficit) of births over deaths in a population in a given time period.

Neonatal Mortality Rate

The number of deaths to infants under 28 days of age in a given year per 1,000 live births in that year.

Net Migration

The estimated rate of net migration (immigration minus emigration) per 1,000 population. For some countries, data are derived as a residual from estimated birth, death, and population growth rates.

Net Migration Rate

The net effect of immigration and emigration on an area’s population, expressed as an increase or decrease per 1,000 population of the area in a given year.

Net Reproduction Rate (NRR)

The average number of daughters that would be born to a woman (or a group of women) if she passed through her lifetime conforming to the age-specific fertility and mortality rates of a given year. This rate is similar to the gross reproduction rate but takes into account

Nuptiality

The frequency, characteristics, and dissolution of marriages in a population.

“Old” Population

A population with a relatively high proportion of middle-age and elderly persons, a high median age, and thus a lower growth potential.

Parity

The number of children previously born alive to a woman; for example, ‘two-parity women’ are women who have had two children and ‘zero-parity women’ have had no live births.

Perinatal Mortality Rate

The number of fetal deaths after 28 weeks of pregnancy (late fetal deaths) plus the number of deaths to infants under 7 days of age per 1,000 live births.

Period Analysis

Observation of a population at a specific period of time. Such an analysis in effect takes a ‘snapshot’ of a population in a relatively short time period — for example, one year. Most rates are derived from period data and therefore are period rates. Compare to cohort analysis.

population

the number of inhabitants in a given place

Population Control

A broad concept that addresses the relationship between fertility, mortality, and migration, but is most commonly used to refer to efforts to slow population growth through action to lower fertility. It should not be confused with family planning.

Population Density

Population per unit of land area; for example, people per square mile or people per square kilometer of arable land.

Population Distribution

The patterns of settlement and dispersal of a population.