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2.1 Introduction to Demography
The word ‘demography’ is made up of two Greek words ‘Demos’ and ‘Graphien’ in which
‘Demos’ means ‘People or Population’ and ‘ ’ means ‘study’. The literal meaning
of ‘demography’ is to study population. The term ‘demography’ was first coined by
the scholar of Belgium, Archelle Guillarad in 1855 A.D. in his book ‘Comparative
Demography’. Demography studies population and population change. It studies about
birth, death, marriage and migration. It gives knowledge on population size, structure,
density, distribution, composition, pyramid, etc. In order to study about population and
population aspects, demographers use mathematical and statistical tools. Demography
shows the real picture of the society. It clarifies the population situation, the impacts
of birth, deaths and migration on socio – economic and political aspects. Hence, the
demographic data are useful in understanding various social systems and for establishing
public policy in the area of education, housing, unemployment, etc. In short, demography
is scientific, mathematical and statistical study of population in reference to population
size, structure, density, distribution, composition, and other aspects of population.
Demography can be studied under two categories:

i. Formal demography
When we study demography in a narrow sense, it is called formal demography. It deals
with quantitative aspect, i.e. mathematical measurement and analysis of population
components. It refers to the population size, structure, distribution, composition, etc.
The UN multilingual demographic dictionary has defined formal demography as the
scientific study of human populations primarily with respect to their size, their structure
and their development. Similarly, according to Locus (1987 AD), Demography is a science
dealing with marriage, birth, death and migration of human population. It also involves
the size, geographical distribution and composition of the population and how these
change over time.

ii. Social demography
When we study demography in a broad sense, it is called social demography. It denotes
the population study. It always shows the relationship between social, economic, cultural
and biological processes influencing a population. In social demography, subject matters
of biology, psychology, medical science along with formal demography are studied. So,
it is also known as multidisciplinary subject. Social demography explains the issues of
population studies by relating with social and economic aspects. According to Shryok
and Siegel (1976 AD), social demography or population study is concerned not only with
population variables, e.g. fertility, mortality and migration but also with relationship
between population changes and other variables like social, economic, political, biological,
genetic, geographical, etc. Social demography deals with the relationship between
population changes and other aspects like social, economic, political and geographical
aspects.

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