人が生きていくために必要な水や食料、結婚相手や仕事には限りがある故、人がどの時代に生まれ落ちるか、その時の人口分布や、同世代の数は、どのような経済事情・政策下で生きていくことになるかや寿命まで、その人の一生を大きく左右します。本書では世界人口の歴史的変遷の概要を述べながら、人口統計学研究において重要な研究者や理論、方法論について紹介します。またそこから派生した新たな研究領域と、21世紀が抱える人口問題の課題にも論究します。
  

• Introduces the study of demography, and considers how it analyses and addresses size, composition, and density of populations
• Highlights the way in which the global population has evolved over time and space
• Considers some of the major demographic theories, and the role of different demographic drivers in impacting populations and individuals
• Looks at the emergence of new demographic sub-disciplines and addresses some of the future population challenges of the 21st century

 
The generation into which each person is born, the demographic composition of that cohort, and its relation to those born at the same time in other places influences not only a person's life chances, but also the economic and political structures within which that life is lived; the person's access to social and natural resources (food, water, education, jobs, sexual partners); and even the length of that person's life. Demography, literally the study of people, addresses the size, distribution, composition, and density of populations, and considers the impact the drivers which mediate these will have on both individual lives and the changing structure of human populations.

This Very Short Introduction considers the way in which the global population has evolved over time and space. Sarah Harper discusses the theorists, theories, and methods involved in studying population trends and movements, before looking at the emergence of new demographic sub-disciplines and addressing some of the future population challenges of the 21st century.
 
 
"incisive overview" - Times Higher Education