Demographic Methods and Concepts

Don Rowland is a Reader in Population Studies at the Australian National University, where he teaches courses on demographic methods, population trends and social changes. He has published monographs, and numerous papers in academic journals and books, focussing on migration, the family, ageing, and national population changes. His research has included many studies undertaken for Australian and international organisations, including the Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography (CICRED), the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) and the United Nations. Like many demographers, his research and teaching is undertaken in an interdisciplinary setting; interests in family sociology and social gerontology supplement his formal academic qualifications in geography and demography.

• EACH CHAPTER CONTAINS STUDY RESOURCES INCLUDING GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS, FURTHER READING, INTERNET RESOURCES, EXERCISES, AND SPREADSHEET EXERCISES; SECTION 1. POPULATION DYNAMICS; SECTION 2. ANALYTICAL APPROACHES; SECTION 3. VITAL PROCESSES; SECTION 4. DEMOGRAPHIC MODELS; SECTION 5. SPATIAL PATTERNS AND PROCESSES; SECTION 6. APPLIED DEMOGRAPHY; APPENDICES; A: BASIC MATHS; B: USING THE EXCEL MODULES; C: INTRODUCTION TO EXCEL; D: ANSWERS TO EXERCISES

'A key feature of the text is a diskette that contains Microsoft Excel-based programs for illustrating and doing fundamental demographic calculations (life tables, growth rates, standardization, and so forth)...The book is a very good compendium of basic demography that clearly is based on the author's practical teaching experience. It has re-opened for me the possibility of successfully teaching demographic methods to students not primarily interested in population studies. I look forward to using it'. Population Studies, Vol.58, No.2, 2004, pp255-256.