Mathematical Demography

Mathematical demography focuses on population phenomena and their relations with other population phenomena. Its subject is not facts as such, but how to handle them. The methods and tools used in the analysis of population phenomena are continually changing, and as a consequence constantly improving our knowledge of population dynamics. New mathematical developments have occurred in the measures used to describe life tables, decomposition methods, model life tables, models of age-specific rates, and indirect methods of estimation. Changes in mathematical demography also include revisions and updates to the basic definitions of model and theory in the context of demography. This chapter reviews some of the latest developments in the large body of mathematical theory concerned with the growth processes of populations. The topics covered were selected on the basis of elements of mathematical demography that have not been addressed in the rest of the volume. This assessment of the state of the art in mathematical demography complements the rest of the contributions of this special volume on demography. As described in this chapter, mathematical demography remains central to the discipline as a complete body of methods, models, and theories that are used within many different areas of demography.