Editing Demography (section)

==Science of population==
Populations can change through three processes: fertility, mortality, and migration.  Fertility involves the number of children that women have and is to be contrasted with [[fecundity]] (a woman's childbearing potential).<ref>[[John Bongaarts]]. The Fertility-Inhibiting Effects of the Intermediate Fertility Variables. Studies in Family Planning, Vol. 13, No. 6/7. (Jun. - Jul., 1982), pp. 179-189.</ref> Mortality is the study of the causes, consequences, and measurement of processes affecting death to members of the population.  Demographers most commonly study mortality using the [[Life Table|life table]], a statistical device that provides information about the mortality conditions (most notably the life expectancy) in the population.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/lftbls/lftbls.htm| title = N C H S - Life Tables<!-- Bot generated title -->| access-date = 9 September 2017| archive-date = 29 July 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200729200625/https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/pubs/pubd/lftbls/lftbls.htm| url-status = live}}</ref>

Migration refers to the movement of persons from a locality of origin to a destination place across some predefined, political boundary. Migration researchers do not designate movements 'migrations' unless they are somewhat permanent.  Thus, demographers do not consider tourists and travellers to be migrating. While demographers who study migration typically do so through census data on place of residence, indirect sources of data including tax forms and labour force surveys are also important.<ref>Donald T. Rowland ''Demographic Methods and Concepts'' Ch. 11 {{ISBN|0-19-875263-6}}</ref>

Demography is today widely taught in many universities across the world, attracting students with initial training in social sciences, statistics or health studies. Being at the crossroads of several disciplines such as [[sociology]], [[economics]], [[epidemiology]], [[geography]], [[anthropology]] and [[history]], demography offers tools to approach a large range of population issues by combining a more technical quantitative approach that represents the core of the discipline with many other methods borrowed from social or other sciences. Demographic research is conducted in universities, in research institutes, as well as in statistical departments and in several international agencies. Population institutions are part of the [[Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography|CICRED]] (International Committee for Coordination of Demographic Research) network while most individual scientists engaged in demographic research are members of the [[International Union for the Scientific Study of Population]],<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.iussp.org/| title = International Union for the Scientific Study of Population| access-date = 20 April 2008| archive-date = 6 September 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190906221242/https://iussp.org/| url-status = live}}</ref> or a national association such as the [[Population Association of America]] in the United States,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.populationassociation.org/| title = Population Association of America| access-date = 14 April 2011| archive-date = 19 March 2011| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110319153140/http://www.populationassociation.org/| url-status = live}}</ref> or affiliates of the Federation of Canadian Demographers in [[Canada]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://fcdweb.wordpress.com/ |title=Fédération canadienne de démographie – Federation of Canadian Demographers |access-date=7 December 2022 |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207210924/https://fcdweb.wordpress.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>