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Historical demography is the
quantitative study Quantitative research is a research strategy that focuses on quantifying the collection and analysis of data. It is formed from a deductive approach where emphasis is placed on the testing of theory, shaped by empiricist and positivist philosop ...
of
human population Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...
in the past. It is concerned with population size, with the three basic components of population change (
fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...
,
mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...
, and
migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...
), and with population characteristics related to those components, such as marriage,
socioeconomic status Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's economic access to resources and social position in relation to others. When analyzing a family's ...
, and the configuration of families.


Sources

The sources of historical demography vary according to the period and topics of the study. For the recent period - beginning in the early nineteenth century in most European countries, and later in the rest of the world - historical demographers make use of data collected by governments, including
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
es and vital statistics.Historical Demography
in
Encyclopedia of Public Health The ''Encyclopedia of Public Health'' is a reference set of four volumes covering all aspects of public health for the lay reader. It covers infectious diseases and other topics related to public health, such as causes of injury or chronic diseases ...
, Retrieved on 3 May 2005
In the early modern period, historical demographers rely heavily on ecclesiastical records of baptisms, marriages, and burials, using methods developed by French historian
Louis Henry Louis Henry (1911 – 1991) was a French historian. He was the founder of the historical demography and one-place study fields. His 1956 book co-written with Michel Fleury, ''Des registres paroissiaux à l'histoire de la population. Manuel de dép ...
, as well as hearth and poll tax records. In 1749 the first population census covering the whole country was conducted in the kingdom of Sweden, including today's Finland. For population size, sources can also include the size of cities and towns, the size and density of smaller settlements, relying on
field survey Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct fi ...
techniques, the presence or absence of agriculture on
marginal land Marginal land is land that is of little agricultural or developmental value because crops produced from the area would be worth less than any rent paid for access to the area. Although the term ''marginal'' is often used in a subjective sense for l ...
, and inferences from historical records. For population health and life expectancy,
paleodemography Prehistoric demography, palaeodemography or archaeological demography is the study of human and hominid demography in prehistory. More specifically, palaeodemography looks at the changes in pre-modern populations in order to determine something a ...
, based on the study of skeletal remains, is another important approach for populations that precede the modern era, as is the study of ages of death recorded on funerary monuments. The PUMS (Public User Microdata Samples) data set allows researchers to analyze contemporary and historical data sets.


Development of techniques

Historical analysis has played a central role in the study of population, from
Thomas Malthus Thomas Robert Malthus (; 13/14 February 1766 – 29 December 1834) was an English cleric, scholar and influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book '' An Essay on the Principle of Population'', Mal ...
in the eighteenth century to major twentieth-century demographers such as
Ansley Coale Ansley Johnson Coale (November 14, 1917 – November 5, 2002), was one of America's foremost demographers. A native to Baltimore, Maryland, he earned his Bachelor of Arts in 1939, his Master of Arts in 1941, and (after a period of service i ...
and Samuel H. Preston. The French historian
Louis Henry Louis Henry (1911 – 1991) was a French historian. He was the founder of the historical demography and one-place study fields. His 1956 book co-written with Michel Fleury, ''Des registres paroissiaux à l'histoire de la population. Manuel de dép ...
(1911-1991) was chiefly responsible for the development of historical demography as a distinct subfield of demography.Paul-André Rosental
The Novelty of an Old Genre: Louis Henry and the Founding of Historical Demography
''Population'' (English edition), Volume 58 –2003/1, Retrieved on 3 May 2007
In recent years, new research in historical demography has proliferated owing to the development of massive new population data collections, including the Demographic Data Base in Umeå, Sweden, the Historical Sample of the Netherlands, and the
Integrated Public Use Microdata Series Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS) is the world's largest individual-level population database. IPUMS consists of microdata samples from United States ''(IPUMS-USA)'' and international ''(IPUMS-International)'' census records, as well ...
(IPUMS). According to Willigan and Lynch, the main sources used by demographic historians include archaeological methods, parish registers starting about 1500 in Europe, civil registration records, enumerations, national
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
beginning about 1800, genealogies and family reconstruction studies, population registers, and organizational and institutional records. Statistical methods have included model life tables,
time series In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. Exa ...
analysis, event history analysis,
causal model In the philosophy of science, a causal model (or structural causal model) is a conceptual model that describes the causal mechanisms of a system. Causal models can improve study designs by providing clear rules for deciding which independent va ...
building and hypothesis testing, As well as theories of the demographic transition and the epidemiological transition.David S. Reher, and Roger Schofield. ''Old and new methods in historical demography'' (Clarendon Press 1993), 426 pp.


References


Further reading

* Alter, George C. "Generation to Generation Life Course, Family, and Community." ''Social Science History'' (2013) 37#1 pp: 1-26
abstract
* Alter, George C., et al. "Introduction: Longitudinal analysis of historical-demographic data." ''Journal of Interdisciplinary History'' (2012) 42#4 pp: 503-517
Online
* Alter, George C., et al. "Completing Life Histories with Imputed Exit Dates: A Method for Historical Data from Passive Registration Systems," ''Population'' (2009) 64:293–318. * Arriaga, Eduardo E. "A New Approach to the Measurements of Urbanization" ''Economic Development & Cultural Change'' (1970) 18#2 pp 206–1
in JSTOR
* Coale, Ansley J. ''Regional Model Life Tables and Stable Populations'' (2nd ed. 1983) * Fauve-Chamoux, Antoinette. "A Personal Account of the History of Historical Demography in Europe at the End of the Glorious Thirty (1967-1975)." ''Essays in Economic & Business History'' 35.1 (2017): 175-205. * Gutmann, Myron P. et al. eds. ''Navigating Time and Space in Population Studies'' (2012
excerpt and text search
* Henry, Louis. ''Population: analysis and models'' (London: Edward Arnold, 1976) * Henry, Louis. ''On the measurement of human fertility: selected writings of Louis Henry'' (Elsevier Pub. Co, 1972) * Henry, Louis. "The verification of data in historical demography." ''Population studies'' 22.1 (1968): 61-81. * Nusteling, Hubert. "Fertility in historical demography and a homeostatic method for reconstituting populations in pre-statistical periods." ''Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History'' (2005) 38#3 pp: 126-142. DOI:10.3200/HMTS.38.3.126-142 * Smith, Daniel Scott. "A perspective on demographic methods and effects in social history." ''William and Mary Quarterly'' (1982 ): 442-468
in JSTOR
* Reher, David S., and Roger Schofield. ''Old and new methods in historical demography'' (Clarendon Press 1993), 426 pp. * Swanson, David A. and Jacob S. Siegel. ''The Methods and Materials of Demography'' (2nd ed. 2004); rewritten version of Henry S. Shryock and Jacob S. Siegel, ''The Methods and Materials of Demography'' (1976); compendium of techniques * Swedlund, Alan C. "Historical demography as population ecology." ''Annual Review of Anthropology'' (1978) pp: 137-173. * van de Walle, Etienne. "Historical Demography" in Dudley L. Poston and Michael Micklin, eds. ''Handbook of Population'' (Springer US, 2005) pp 577–600 * Watkins, Susan Cotts, and Myron P. Gutmann. "Methodological issues in the use of population registers for fertility analysis." ''Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History'' (1983) 16#3: 109-120. * Willigan, J. Dennis, and Katherine A. Lynch, ''Sources and Methods of Historical Demography'', (New York: Academic Press, 1982) 505 p
Abstract
* Wrigely, E. A., ed. ''An Introduction to English Historical Demography'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1966.


External links


International Commission for Historical Demography

H-Demog
an international scholarly online discussion list on demographic history
POPULATION STATISTICS in historical perspective
{{Authority control
Demography Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...
Population