Demography, translated from Greek, literally means "nationality." What is demography in general? This is a science about the ways, types of reproduction of different peoples and the factors that (one way or another) affect this process.
The author of the term “demography” was the French scientist A. Guillard in 1855, and in Russia this concept began to be used from the 70s of the 18th century. Initially, the concepts of "population statistics" and "demography" were considered synonymous, but over time the situation has changed somewhat. Currently, demography is an independent science that studies the factors that affect mortality, fertility, marriage and termination of marriage. In addition, this science analyzes and predicts also demographic processes using special methods. To understand what demography is, it is necessary to study the structure of this science. Thus, the demographic theory is responsible for explaining important processes, formulating hypotheses, summarizing data and deriving trends.
The collection of primary data is carried out during the census process, which is carried out with a certain frequency. Another source of information is federal statistics. Information processing techniques are borrowed from sociometry and statistics, which, in general, is natural. In addition, this science describes demographic processes. Analytical demography studies the links between various demographic phenomena and ongoing processes. So, demographers can explain a sharp or smooth decrease in population or increase in fertility due to various economic, social, environmental and other factors. In addition, there is historical, social, military demography. The problems of demography in Russia have been studied since the mid 18th century. What is demography in tsarist Russia? This is mainly a study of population statistics. In the first half of the 20th century, the works of scientists A.A. Chuprov, devoted to the impact of wars on the processes of marriage and childbirth, and Novoselsky, who studied mortality in detail.
Censuses were conducted after the October Revolution. And these data became the basis for various studies (not only demographic). However, in the 30s, all studies of this kind were discontinued. Demography revived in the 1960s. By that time, scientists realized that this science is not limited to population statistics. Researchers began to study the influence of factors to increase and decrease the birth rate, marriage, family development. Since the 70s of the last century, the concept of a demographic revolution has been developing, the author of which was A.G. Vishnevsky. The Russian methodology firmly included the Cahors method and the modeling method; Russian science was gradually integrated into the world. By the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, researchers pay special attention to the study of mortality, the laws of birth rate and marriage, as well as the development of modeling and forecasting. All this together allows us to answer the question of what demography is.
