Social Demography
The word demography was used for the first time by A.Guillard a Frenchman in his book
Elements de Statistique Humanine. It is a statistical study of population composition,
distribution and trends. It is the analysis of population variables which includes stock and
flow. The national census is the source of stock variable which is carried out periodically in
most of the countries. The flow variables are the components of population change which
include birth and death registrations.
Migration
The movement of people from one place to the other to stay on for a considerable period of
time for various reasons is known as migration. It is one of the three components of the
population change the other two being mortality and fertility.
Migration is associated with the socio-economic development of the country. In India one of
the side-effects of unprecedented population growth is industrialization and economic
development which helped in a rapid increase in internal migratory movements.M.S.A Rao
has written about different types of migration.
Internal migration: The movement of people from one region to another within the
country. In internal migration there are different forms of migration such as " Rural-to-rural
" Urban-to-urban migration " Rural to urban migration " Urban to rural migration.
International migration: Migration from one country to another country.
Emigration: It refers to the movement out of the particular country.
Immigration: It refers to the movement into a particular country.
Out migration: It is the movement out of a particular territory within a country.
In migration: It is the movement into a particular region within a country.
Migration Stream: It refers to the total number of moves made during a given migration
interval which have a common area of origin and common area of destination.
Gross and Net migration: It is the total number of arrivals of migrants and departures of
emigrants is known as gross migration.Net migration is the difference between the total
number of persons who arrive and the total number of persons who leave.
Population and Social Development
Population and social development are interrelated.
Population explosion leads to social problems like unemployment, poverty, low economic
development etc.The social development which is determined by better health care facilities,
education and high literacy rate and improvement in the standard of living of people are
adversely affected due to high population. The benefits of government schemes do not reach
the masses.
A vast share of GDP is required to keep the level of per capita income constant. The weaker
sections of the population do not get the share of the development.
For an equitable social development government should aim not only at controlling the
unregulated human growth of numerical strength but also at checking the unregulated
movement of the population and increasing concentration of people in the urbanized areas
and providing adequate living space and other facilites.These goals have to be jointly linked
with the formulation and implementation of policies aimed at population regulation and
planning for harnessing both natural and human resources. Thus only population growth per
se may not be perceived as a problem but its relation with the availability of resources may
be viewed with great concern.
Causes of Population growth
i. There is a widening gap between birth and death rates.
ii. Better medical facilities and application.
iii. Improvement in transport facilities helps people to reach the medical and health facilities.
iv. Social factors like child marriage and early marriage.
v. Lack and adoption of family planning measures.
vi. Illiteracy
Consequences of population explosion
i. Heavy pressure on land.
ii. Food shortage.
iii.Housing problems.
iv. Unemployment
v. Illiteracy
vi. Economic loss
vii.Rate of economic development has been affected.
viii.Law and order problems.
ix. Emergence of slums and overburden of resources.
x. Lower standard of living
xi. Pollution problem
xii Shrinking of national resources.
Suggestions to lower the population growth
i. Emphasis on female literacy
ii. Adoption of family planning measures.
iii. Educating people through mass -media.
iv. Improvement in the quality of health and family welfare services.
v. Empowering women as decision makers.
vi. Coordination between states and the centers for the implementation of the population
control policies.
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Population Growth
According to 2001 final census India's total population has crossed 1,027,015,247 out
of which 531,277,078 are males and females are 495,738,169.
Of this number, 157,863,145 are children up to the age of six years out of which
81,911,041 are males and 75,952,104 are females.
India's landscape is just 2.4% of the total world area whereas its population is nearly
16.7% of the world population.
The population of India which at the turn of the 20th century was around 238.4 million
increased to reach 1,027million at the dawn of the 21st century.
As per census 2001 the sex-ratio has gone up from 927 in 1991 to 933 in 2001.
The literacy rate increased from 52.21% to 65.38%.For males it has increased to
75.85% and for females 54.16%. The gap in male-female literacy rates has decreased
from 24.84% points to 21.70% points in 2001.
The density of population has increased in all states and UTs between 1991 and
2001.Population density increased from 274 in 1991 to 324 persons per sq.km in 2001.
West Bengal is the most densely populated state 904 followed by Bihar 880 and Kerala
819.
The percentage of urban population of total population has increased from 25.7% in
1991 to 27.8% in 2001.
The number of cities having a population of more than one million increased from 23
in 1991 to 35 in 2001.Population -wise UP is at the top followed by Maharashtra, Bihar
and West-Bengal and so on.
The crude death rate in India has declined from 25.1 in 1951 to 9.8 in 1991 and to 8.7
in 1999 while the crude birth rate declined from 40.8 in 1951 to 29.5 in 1991 and to
26.1 in 1999.The child mortality rate stands at 23.9 (0-4 years per 1000 children).
The decadal growth rate in 1991-2001 was lowest in Kerala (9.42%) and highest in
Nagaland (64.41%). The sex-ratio declined in the age-group 0-6 years from 945 to
927.Kerala has the highest (1058) sex-ratio while Haryana has the lowest (861).
The life expectancy for males is 62 years and for females it is 63 years.
Components of Population growth
The age and sex composition of a population affects its social life in many ways. Changes in
age composition are due mainly to changes in birthrates and are presently increasing the
proportion of aged and reducing the proportion of children in many countries. Migration is
affected by the push given to people by unsatisfactory conditions at home by the pull of
attractive opportunities elsewhere and by the channels or means through which they are able
to migrate.
Sex Composition: The small family norm together with a desire for a male child has further
distorted a sex ratio against the girl-child. The sex ratio has steadily declined: From 972 (for
every 1000 boys) in 1901 to 927 in 1991. The latest census shows a slight overall
improvement in the sex ratio to 933. Unfortunately, this is offset by a worsening of the sex
ratio of children up to the age of six.
The sex ratio for children up to the age of six has gone down from 962 girls per 1000 boys in
1981, to 945 in 1991, to 927 in 2001. The sharpest declines in sex ratio for the child
population are reported from Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttaranchal,
Maharashtra and Chandigarh, where abortions of female fetuses are known to be widely
practised.
Population Density: Defined as the number of persons per sq km the population density of
India in 2001 was 324 per sq km.West Bengal is still the most thickly populated state with a
population density of 903 in 2001.Bihar (880) is now the second highest densely populated
state pushing Kerala to the third place.
Age Composition: The current age distribution of Indian population is little more than 31.7
per cent are under the age of 15 years (male 173,869,856; female 164,003,915); 63.5per
cent are between 15 and 64(male 349,785,804; female 326,289,402), and 4.8 per cent are
over the age of 60(male 25,885,725; female 25,235,905). The Indian Planning Commission's
Technical Group on Population Projections predicted in the National Population Policy (2000)
that India's population would be 1.012 billion in March 2001, going up to 1.179 billion and
1.264 billion in March 2011 and 2016 respectively.
Morality: According to 2001 census Seventy-two out of every 1,000 babies born die before
their first birthday. Seven per cent (72/1,000) of newborn infants perish within a year of birth,
because of low birth weight, pre-maturity, malnutrition, diarrhea diseases, acute respiratory
infections and malnutrition. Compare this to the IMRs in Sri Lanka (18/1,000) and China
(41/1,000 Moreover, in India, there are more female deaths (rural or urban areas) in the age
group of 0-14 than elsewhere. Although the IMR has decreased from 146 per 1000 births in
1951 to 72 per 1000 births (1997) and the sex differentials are narrowing, there are wide
inter-state differences.
Measurements of mortality
" Crude Death Rate " Birth Rate " Infant Mortality Rate
Factors for the low death rate
" Healthcare services " Vaccinations and control of epidemics " Reduction in the occurrence of
famines and droughts
Population Policy
A policy is a plan of action ,statement of aims and ideals especially one made by a government
,a political party ,a business company etc.Population policy is an effort to affect the size,
structure and distribution or characteristics of population. In its broader range it includes
efforts to regulate economic and social conditions which are likely to have demographic
consequences.
National Population Policy:
The immediate objective of this new policy is to address the unmet needs of contraception,
health infrastructure, health personnel and to provide integrated service delivery for basic
reproductive and child health care. The medium term objective is to bring the total fertility
rated to replacement level by 2010.The long term objective is to achieve a stable population
by 2045.In pursuance of these objectives 14 National Socio- Demogragraphic goals are
formulated to be achieved by 2010.The important goals are:
1. Making school education compulsory and to reduce the drop-outs.
2. Reduce infant-mortality rate to 30 per 1000 live births.
3. Reduce maternal mortality rate to below 100 per 100000 live births.
4. Promote delayed marriage.
5. Achieve 80% institutional deliveries.
6. Prevent and control communicable diseases.
7. Promote vigorously the small family norm to achieve replacement levels of Total Fertility
Rate.
The policy speaks about the formation of National Commission of Population under the
chairmanship of the Prime -Minister to monitor and implement population policy and to guide
planning implementations. The policy also suggests some promotional and motivational
measures to promote adoption of the small family norm. The main features of the policy are
1. Reward panchayats and Zila Parishads for promoting small family norms.
2. Incentives to adopt two child norms.
3. Couples below poverty line, having sterilization with not more than two living children will
be eligible for health insurance plan.
4. Strengthening abortion facility scheme.
Theories of Demography
Malthus
The essay on the principle of population an important work of Malthus is a landmark in the
history of population studies. The theme of the Essay was mainly to argue that the tendency
of the population to grow faster in relation to its means of subsistence has led to human
misery and placed several obstacles in the path of human progress. In 1803, Malthus
published the second edition of his essay, a much expanded and changed edition which can't
really be called a re print of the 1797 essay, for in the new edition the emphasis was more
on arguments against the poor laws than on country arguments against the opinions of
Condorcet and Godwin.
Neo- Maltusian theory
Neo-Malthusians maintain that although the gloomy predictions of Malthus may have been
pre-mature they are basically correct.
According to Anti Malthusians' world's resources are adequate for a much larger population.
Exploitation not over population is the basic cause of world hunger.
Demographic Transition theory
Two different interpretations have been given for this theory.One by Frank Notestein says
that every country passes through three stages of population growth; 1. High birth rate and
high death rate ii.High birth rate and low death rate (population explosion) iii.Low birth rate
and low death rate.
In western nations the desire for high standard of living led to the reductions in the birthrate
.These nations are approaching a new equilibrium with both birthrates and death rates quite
low and little population growth. This is explained by the theory of demographic transition -
the theory that industrial and commercial development first cuts the death rate but creates a
desire for smaller families and eventually cuts the birthrate.
The other theory is given by C.P Blacker .There are five phrases in this theory. i.High
stationary phase marked by high fertility and mortality rate.
ii.Early expanding phase marked by high fertility and high but declining mortality.
iii.Late Expanding phase with declining fertility but mortality declining more rapidly.
iv.Low stationary phase with low fertility and equally low mortality.
v. Declining phase with low mortality, low fertility and an excess of deaths over births.
Optimum population theory
According to Canan the propounder of this theory population must grow upto certain desired
level after which further growth is harmful. The two important principles of this theory are:
1. When there is an increase in population than the ratio between the total population and
the working population remains almost constant.
2. When at a point of time the population of a country increases the natural resources capital
and technical know how do not change with the result that after sometime the law of
diminishing returns begins to operate. This law provides that for maximum production all the
sources of production should be combined in that proper ratio than it shall not be possible to
have maximum production.
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