population stistics


modern national governments and international organizations place a high priority on the accurate determination of national and worldwide populations. describing the present population and predicting those of the future with reasonable accuracy requires reliable data.
methods of research
national censuses, civil registration, and, since the 1960s, national sample surveys are the major sources of demographic data. they provide the raw materials for investigating the causes and consequences of population changes. the most common source is the population census, a count of all persons by age and with specified social and economic characteristics within a given area at a particular time. a register is a continuous record of births, deaths, migrations, marriages, and divorces, often maintained by a local government reliability varies with the scrupulousness of citizens in reporting these data. in the sample survey, a statist...