Page 208 - Social Studies 7

Lesson Sources of Population Data
9.3

About 1.8 billion people around the world are between
FACTS ages of 10 and 24 which is the largest population of
to Understand young people ever. In fact about 52 % of the total world
population is under 30 years old .

The sources of population data means the place from where the data is collected
that provides full information about population. Data related to the population
can be acquired by the process of collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing
and otherwise disseminating demographic, economic and social data, at specified
time, to all persons in a country. Such data help to formulate and implement the
various policies and planning in a country. The sources of population data can be
classified into two groups:

i. Primary Sources
ii. Secondary Source

1. Primary Sources

Any data collected by the investigator himself/herself is primary data.
Primary sources provide direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object,
person or work of art. Primary sources include historical and legal documents,
eyewitness accounts, results of experiments, statistical data, etc. Primary sources
are collected from census, vital registration, sample surveys and administrative
records.

a. Census

It is the main source of population data. The UN (1970) defines census
as “the process of collecting, compiling, evaluating, analyzing and publishing
demographic, economic and social data pertaining at a specified time to all person
in a country or in a well-delimited territory of a country “ The first census was
th
carried out in Nepal in BS 1968. The last census BS 2068 was the 11 census of
Nepal.
A population census determines the size of a country’s population and the
characteristics of its people, such as their sex, background, marital status, income,
literacy, religion, language, caste, ethnic, group, economically active population,
education, number of children, employment status, occupation, etc.

Dynamic Social Studies and Population Education - Book VII 208