Course Title: Basics Demographic Measures and Techniques
Course No.: Pop. Ed.365 (Minor I)
Nature of course: Theory
Level: B.Ed.
Credit hours: 3
Semester: 6th
Teaching hours: 45
1. Course Introduction
This course has been designed to acquaint the students with nature and scope of demography and its sources of demographic data. Specifically, this course intends to provide the students with demographic measures and techniques with reference to age-sex composition, nuptiality, fertility, morbidity, mortality, migration and population projection. It is expected that after completing this course the students will be able to develop the capacity to compute demographic measures as well as apply the demographic techniques.
2. General Objectives
The general objectives of this course are as follows:
- To acquaint the students with demography and sources of demographic data.
- To make the students able to compute and interpret various demographic measures.
- To develop the knowledge and skills on various demographic measures and techniques.
- To make the students able in utilizing demographic data according to need and situation.
- To equip the students with the knowledge and skills on population projection on the basis of past and present data.
3. Contents in Details with Specific Objectives
| Specific objectives | Contents |
| 1. Introduce the demography and describe its scope and nature. 2. Discuss the relation of demography with other disciplines. 3. Identify the various sources of demographic data. 4. Explain background, the historical definition, applications and limitations of various sources of demographic data. | Unit I: Introduction of Demography (7 hours) 1.8 Definitions, scope and nature of demography 1.9 Relation of demography with other disciplines 1.10 Sources of demographic data :- 1.10.1 Population census (Historical background, definition, applications and limitations) 1.10.2 Vital registration system (Historical background, definition, applications and limitations) 1.10.3 Demographic surveys (historical background, definition, applications and limitations):- Nepal demographic and health survey (NDHS), National ageing survey, National family health survey (NFHS) |
| 1. Compute the measures of age composition and analyze them. 2. Compute the measures of sex composition and analyze them. 3. Define, prepare and analyze the age-sex pyramid. | Unit II: Age-Sex Composition (5 hours) 2.7 Measures of age composition: Mean age, median age, index of ageing, dependency ratios, 2.8 Measures of sex composition: Sex ratios, Sex ratio at birth, Sex ratio at death, Sex ratio of migrants, Age-sex pyramid |
| 1. Conceptualize the definition of nuptiality and marital status. 2. Compute the measures of nuptiality and interpret them. 3. Define the fecundity and fertility. 4. Compute the period measures of fertility and interpret them. 5. Compute the cohort measures of fertility and interpret them. | Unit III: Nuptiality and Fertility (12 hours) a. Definition of nuptiality and marital status b. Measures of nuptiality: Proportion of married/widowed/divorced by age and sex, crude marriage rate, general marriage rate, age-specific marriage rate, mean/median age at first marriage c. Definition of fecundity and fertility d. Measures of fertility: Period measures: Crude birth rate, General fertility rate, Age-specific fertility rate, General marital fertility rate, Age- specific marital fertility rate, Cohort Measures: Total fertility rate, Total marital fertility rate, Gross reproduction rate and Net reproduction rate |
| 1. Define the morbidity and mortality. 2. Compute the measures of morbidity and explain them. 3. Compute the measures of mortality and interpret them. 4. Introduce the concept of life table. 5. Identify the importance and use of life table and life expectancy. | Unit IV: Morbidity and Mortality (10 hours) 4.13 Definition of morbidity and mortality 4.14 Measures of morbidity: Prevalence rate, Incidence rate and Case fatality ratio 4.15 Measures of mortality: Crude death rate, Age-specific death rate, Cause-specific death rate, Infant mortality rate (neonatal mortality rate and post-neonatal mortality rate), Child mortality rate, Under-five mortality rate, Maternal mortality rate, Maternal mortality ratio 4.16 Introduction and uses of life table and life expectancy |
| 1. Define migration and describe the key terms of migration. 2. Classify the types of migration. 3. Calculate the direct measures migration and elucidate them. | Unit V: Measures of Migration (5 hours) 5.7 Definitions of migration 5.8 Key terms of migration: Circulation, Mobility, Commutation, migration and migration stream 5.9 Types of migration: Internal and International 5.10 Direct measures of migration: Crude immigration (in-migration) rate, Crude emigration (out-migration) rate, Net-migration rate, Gross migration rate |
| 1. Introduce the concept of population estimation, forecast and projection. 2. Explain the need and importance of population projection and its types. 3. Describe various measures used in computing population change. 4. Compute and explain the concepts of rate of natural increase arithmetic, (RNI), exponential and geometric growth rate of population, population doubling period. | Unit VI: Population Projection (6 hours) 6.10 Concept of population estimation, forecast and projection 6.11 Importance and uses of population projection 6.12 Types of population projection 6.13 Population change: The balancing equation, Rate of natural increase (RNI), Arithmetic growth rate, Geometric growth rate, Exponential growth rate and population doubling period |
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