POPULATION IN ITS SOCIAL-CONTEXT

This article presents an overview of the field of demography, focusing on aspects relevant to a sociological perspective. The field is broadly divided into the areas of fertility, mortality and migration, the processes that constitute and shape populations. Issues of current academic and programmatic relevance within each of these subfields are discussed. Concerning fertility, the issue of persistent high fertility in some regions of the world, in contrast to very low fertility in industrialized nations is discussed. The section on mortality discusses the gender bias in mortality in South and East Asia which leads to excess female mortality. Behavioural issues relevant to the spread of AIDS are discussed, focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa. The section on migration deals with issues of the massive east-west and south-north migration pattern current in Europe. The concluding section discusses the interface between demographic and sociological theory. These disciplines developed more disparately in the past, but have recently begun a closer theoretical co-operation.