DEMOGRAPHY

Four 10-credit point courses

Address: Department of Economics, Eilert Sundts hus, 12. etg.

P.B. 1095 Blindern, 0317 Oslo

Telephone: 22855127

Introduction

Demography deals with changes and differences in the size and structure of human populations. These are due to birth, death, and migration, which are often referred to as demographic events. The so-called formal demography is a set of methods specially designed to study the mathematical relationships between demographic events and the size and structure of populations. In addition to the formal description and analysis, improving the knowledge of the social and behavioural mechanisms behind the trends in demographic events is an important concern. To this end, demographers also make use of a wide range of quantitative, and occasionally qualitative, techniques originally developed and used in other scientific disciplines.

Much attention is devoted to topics such as: How does birth interval length influence the survival chances of the children? How stable are marriages contracted at a young age, or at a time when the bride was already pregnant? Which economic, social, cultural and technological forces have been driving the fertility decline in contemporary industrialized world? What is the impact of family planning programmes in developing countries? What is the current pattern of international migration, and how is it likely to change during the next few decades? Not only the causes, but also the consequences of population changes are addressed. A particularly important question is how the high population growth in many regions of the world will influence health, economic development and the environment. Can we produce enough food and provide clean water for, say, 11 billions? Will Norway and other affluent countries suffer markedly from ageing and perhaps even a decline in the total population, or are only minor adaptations called for to secure future individual well-being?

Few students can expect employment where demographic investigation is the key activity, but some knowledge of population processes will be useful in many other disciplines - not only in the social sciences, but also for historians, natural scientists and physicians.

Courses

Introduction to Demography ECON1710 Autumn term, first time 2003

Applied Demography ECON1720 Autumn term, first time 2003, last time 2004

Population and Welfare (planned)         ECON 3730 Autumn term. first time 2005

Population in Developing Countries ECON 3710 Spring term, first time 2004

Population in Developed Countries ECON3720 Spring term, first time 2004

More information

You are welcome to take contact with the Department of Economics or the Faculty of Social Sciences for more information.