demography definition | Open Education Sociology Dictionary

Bell, Kenton

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demography

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Definition of Demography

(noun) The study of human populations and their density, distribution, growth, size, or structure.

Examples of Demography

Studying the health of people at a university.
The population growth of a country.

Demography Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: de·mog·ra·phy

Audio Pronunciation

– American English

– British English

Phonetic Spelling

American English – /di-mAH-gruh-fee/
British English – /dee-mO-gruh-fee/

International Phonetic Alphabet

American English – /dəˈmɑɡrəfi/
British English – /dᵻˈmɒɡrəfi/

Usage Notes

Plural: demographies
Demographers study social statistics.
Data collected during the study of demography is called demographics.
A (noun) demographer (demographist) studies the growth and density of populations and their vital statistics to produce (adjective) demographic or (adjective) demographical data to understand society (adverb) demographically.

Additional Information

Word origin of “demography” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Ehrlich, Paul R. 1968. The Population Bomb. New York: Ballantine.
Ehrlich, Paul R., and Anne H. Ehrlich. 1990. The Population Explosion. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Malthus, Thomas R., and Shannon C. Stimson. [1798] 2018. An Essay on the Principle of Population. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Related Terms

Works Consulted

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Cite the Definition of Demography

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “demography.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved June 5, 2023 (https://sociologydictionary.org/demography/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

demography. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/demography/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “demography.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed June 5, 2023. https://sociologydictionary.org/demography/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“demography.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 5 Jun. 2023. <https://sociologydictionary.org/demography/>.