BASIC

DEMOGRAPHIC METHODS

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 DEMOGRAPHY
It involves:
•Description;
•Analysis;
•Understanding of Human Population Phenomena

‘demos’ = people

‘graphein’ = to write

•In a simple language, it means to write about People

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 Definition of Demography

• “Demography is the study of the size,

territorial distribution, and composition of
population, changes therein, and
components of such changes,…[namely]
natality, mortality, territorial movement,
and social mobility[change of status]”.
…Hauser and Duncan, 1959.

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 SCOPE OF DEMOGRAPHY
• Examination of the size: No. of persons in the
population
• Distribution: The arrangement of the population in
space at a given time (geographical distribution)
• Structure: The distribution according to age, sex and
marital status
• Growth or decline: Change in population size over
time

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 BROADER SCOPE
• Extends beyond formal statistical counting or
measurement of the components of change
• Includes consideration of the
– Social
– Economic
– Historical
– Political
characteristics of the population as related to
the demographic process
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 Requirements for the Study of
Demography
• Extensive and accurate Statistics
– Expensive to produce (in terms of cost, time)

– But costs justifiable in economic terms:

as they are essential for
– administrative, social and economic planning

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 Uses for Administrative and
Socio-economic Purposes
• To answer questions such as :
– What is the number of persons in the country
– Geographic distribution by various socio-economic
characteristics
– Current levels, trends and patterns of fertility and
mortality
– Is the population growing or decreasing
– What are the patterns of movement of the population
– How is the population being redistributed over time etc

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 Sources of Demographic Data
• Traditional Sources
i. Periodic censuses
ii. Sample surveys
iii. Vital statistics registration systems
iv. Population registers

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 Other Sources of Demographic Data

• Fertility - Maternity clinics

• Mortality - Hospitals and Clinics

• International Migration - Frontier custom posts

- Airports and sea

ports
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 Population Censuses
• Census –The total process of collecting, compiling
and publishing demographic, economic and social
data pertaining at a specified time or times to all
persons in a country or delineated area (United
Nations, 1965)
– It is the main source of demographic data in many
countries
– It is a huge undertaking, requiring
• Careful advance planning
• Adequate resources
– Records size, distribution and other
characteristics of the total
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 Mode of Operation

• Total population can be enumerated under two

different schemes
– Dejure count
– Defacto count

• Dejure count: Enumeration of persons who usually

reside in a place

• Defacto count: Enumeration of persons physically

present at a specified place on census night.
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 Defacto Counts

• Defacto count
Advantages
– Simple and unambiguous: record only those present
on census night
– Less time consuming
Disadvantages
– But less suitable for administrative and planning
processes such as
• Taxation
• Housing
• Education
– Enumeration of the floating population is also
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Dejure
Counts
• Advantage
– More suitable for administrative and planning
purposes

Disadvantages
– Normal residence may be difficult to define
– People can be counted more than once

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 Features of Census
• Individual enumeration
• Universality
• Defined territory
• Simultaneity
• Periodicity
• Defined interval

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 Importance of Population Census
• Economic planning
• Education planning
• Health planning
• Labour force / manpower planning
• Housing planning
• Sharing of national resources
• Distribution of parliamentary seats

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 Limitations of Population Censuses as
Source of Demographic Data

• In a census only a limited number of

questions can be asked
• Can only be carried out at intervals of 5 or
10years
• Time needed to process entire census data is
too long to satisfy urgent data requirement
• Slow processing, tabulation and publication
of results
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 Sample Surveys
• Important source of demographic data for
developing countries
• It involves collection of data from a sample selected
from the population
• It is employed to arrive at estimates of demographic
characteristics of the population
– Size
– Distribution
– Mortality
– Fertility
– Migration
• During the last 23 years Demographic and Health
Surveys (DHS) in virtually all African Countries
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Two Main Types of Demographic Surveys
• Single round surveys
• Multi-round surveys

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 Single-round Surveys
• Sample is visited and enumerated only once at the
time of the survey
• Retrospective questions on demographic events are
asked
• Advantages
– Simplicity
– Flexibility
– Ease of Administration
– Relatively low cost
• Disadvantages
– High rates of error (particularly non-sampling errors)
– Serious underreporting of births and deaths
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 Multi-round Surveys
• Repeated surveys
– Repeat visits to same households to ascertain events since
last visit
• Advantages
– Can check info collected at earlier round
– Additional data can be collected during the next visit(s)
• Disadvantages
– Relatively more expensive
– Difficult to administer

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 Limitations and Quality of Data from
Censuses and Sample Surveys

• Two main types of error

– Coverage errors
– Content errors

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 Coverage Errors
• Coverage errors may be due to either under-
enumeration or over-enumeration

• Under-enumeration or under-count
– It arises when villagers, hamlets, households, persons,
etc, are not counted at all
• Causes:- incomplete listing of units in the
enumeration area
– Faulty sampling frame
– Mobile populations
– Deliberate over-count for political purposes.

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• Over Enumeration:
– It occurs when households, persons, villages etc are
counted more than once
• Causes:
– Census may spread over a couple of days, thus persons
may be counted in more than one place
– Use of de jure counting scheme

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 Content Error
• Error in the recording of relevant characteristics
such as age
• Error may be due to response of the respondents,
failure of the enumerator to ask questions
correctly, tabulation, coding, recording of
relevant data, under-enumeration etc
• Age error is very prevalent in Africa

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Errors in Sample Survey Data
– Errors in Sample Survey Data include
– Sampling Errors
– Non-Sampling Errors
• Sampling Errors
– Measure of the difference between sample estimate and
true population value
– Can be controlled:
• adequate sample design
• Can be measured/calculated

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 Non-Sampling Errors
Non-sampling errors:
•Coverage Errors
•Content Errors
Causes:
– Poor Planning
– Poor Organization
– Poor Control

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