Demography

General objectives

The course is designed to help students understand population characteristics and population dynamics in relation to health services and development needs. It will also enable the students to understand the socio-economic, cultural, and eco-biological determinants of demographic status and its trend. The course also aims to enable the students to use different demographic tools in analyzing health problems and collect demographic information necessary for designing and implementing health programs.

Specific objectives

  1. Sources of demographic data

Students will be able to

  • identify different sources of demographic data on population structure, composition and distribution of the community;
  • describe method, strength and weaknesses of these sources;
  • use these sources for the collection of demographic data.

 

  1. Population structure and characteristics

Students will be able to

  • analyze the composition of population, construct Population Pyramid, develop concept of Young and old population;
  • identify the problems due to ageing of population;
  • describe and calculate Dependency Ratio; Masculinity Ratio, Sex Ratio,

 

  1. Fertility and its measurement

Students will be able to

  • identify the factors that influence the size and composition of population,
  • explain the simple measures of fertility such as: Crude Birth Rate, General Fertility Rate, Age Specific Fertility Rate, Total Fertility Rate, Child Women Ratio, Describe concept of Baby Boom Syndrome, Baby Bust Syndrome,
  • identify the determinants of fertility,
  • describe the process of standardization of birth rates

 

  1. Reproduction and its measurement

Students will be able to

  • explain the concept of Reproduction rates, Replacement level fertility, Population Momentum and Contraceptive prevalence rate.

 

  1. Mortality and its measurement

Students will be able to

  • describe the simple measures of mortality such as: Crude Death Rate, Age Specific Death Rate, Infant Mortality Rate, Neo-natal Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality Ratio,
  • identify the determinants of fertility,
  • describe the process of Standardization of Death Rates and the concept of Life expectancy.

 

  1. Migration and its measurement

Students will be able to

  • explain the common terminology of migration,
  • describe the simple measures of migration such as: In migration rate, Out migration rate, Gross migration rate and Net migration rate,
  • identify the determinants of migration

 

  1. Population Projection

Students will be able to

  • describe the concept of Balancing Equation Method, and project the population by Mathematical Methods (Arithmetic Growth Model, Geometric Growth Model, Exponential Growth Model),
  • identify the demerits of one method over the other,
  • explain the concept of Population Doubling Time

 

  1. Population Theories

Students will be able to

  • Critically analyze the Malthusian Population Theory and the Demographic Transition theory

 

  1. Population policy

Students will be able to

  • describe the purpose of population theory,
  • identify the main content of population theory,
  • critically analyse the recent population of Nepal as compared with world population policy.

 

  1. Concept of Human Development Index

Students will be able to

  • Explain the concept of Human Development Index, understand and interpret it
  1. Bhende, AA and Kanitar T. Principles of population studies. Himalaya Publishing House, Bombay
  2. Misra BD. An introduction to the study of population” South Asian Publishers Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi
  3. Mahajan BK. Method in Biostatistics. Jaypee Publishers, New Delhi
  4. Shryock, HS; Siegel JS; and Associate. The methods and materials of Demography. US Bureau of Census, Washington DC.
  5. Cox RC. Demography. Cambridge University Press.