This course is designed to equip students from all faculties with a basic understanding of the ways in which population variables interact with economic, political, social, cultural, physical and environmental factors to create a changing balance. The course introduces students to the basic measures which are used by demographers to describe the structure of populations, as well as the changes induced by births, deaths and migration.

There is no pre-requisite for this course, but through active participation in the course, students will gain experience in the calculation and interpretation of basic rates and ratios, as well as an understanding of the relationships between patterns of development and population changes and distribution.