Curriculum of the Graduate Program Demography or Population Studies

Demography or Population Studies which is the study of population and its dynamics is a very useful degree. It is under the general subject Social Sciences and Philosophy. It is a branch of Sociology which specifically tackles the subjects about factors affecting population change - birth, death and migration.

Demography as a field of study utilizes the following :

• Statistics and statistical software to project and analyze population dynamics - fertility, mortality and migration.
• Incorporate demographic or population studies theories in analyzing population dynamics
  
• It uses quantitative analysis for the study of population data.
• It utilizes local and national plus international surveys
  
• Utilizes data gathering techniques to study the society which is contained in a specific area.

• to discuss the different curriculum or subjects plus cognates that are taken under the Course Demography or Population Studies.
• to give a brief description on what Demography or Population Studies is all about
• to give some idea about the prospective employment for Demography graduates
  

• If you want to have a degree on Demography or Population Studies you will surely like it as it uses Statistics, Math and Social Science - mostly sociological theories and application.
• Statistics and Math are used in moderation.
• You can also learn the Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and Stata - software which are very useful in population projection. These software spew out statistics like median, mode, and standard deviations which are very useful in analyzing population composition.
• You can also derive various demographics in local and national data which are gathered through population censuses and surveys.
• Most often countries also conduct population surveys and demographic data gathering, so you can compare and contrast.

You will be surprised how much you can learn from Demography. The degree is interesting.

Those who have a degree in Population Studies or Demography they can be employed at :

• Market research businesses or entities
  
• Population studies graduate can become a government consultant in population planning
• Job placement at government offices specially in the social planning department
• A demographer can work at Census offices either as consultant or population analyst.
• They can also be employed at universities specializing in the further study of demography and/or becoming a teacher in demography.
• They can have jobs in local government to help local planners to integrate population in their planning agenda.
• They can work in non governmental organizations
• Or at social research offices in academics or those funded by international or local organizations working or the population field
• They can also work overseas - at international population organizations and agencies like the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, Population Action International etc.
  

• Population Studies Theory - is usually taken as the first subject in conjunction with basic demographic analysis. The study of the demographic and sociological theories orients the student on what relevant lens of theories are used in studying demography.

• Basic Demographic Analysis - introduction to the tools that are basic in demographic analysis like demographic data and variables in demography like age and sex structure, income, household and the size etc. It also familiarizes the students about the different demographic data - surveys and census data.

• Techniques in Demographic Data - it teaches the students on how to work with data and make sense of it - like correcting and looking for what is wrong with the data and some techniques to smooth or correct the data.

• Statistics for the Social Sciences - basic course on the statistics that are useful in the analysis of the population ; Social statistics also give relevance to data about the three demographic processes fertility, mortality and migration. The student is taught how to familiarize with the basic concepts like mean, median and mode in a specific data.

• Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences. Basic statistical packages like SPSS, Stata and some word processing programs are studied in detail. Techniques on how to present the data like familiarization with PowerPoint Presentation are also taught.

• Techniques in Statistical Analysis - The student is taught how to use statistics like regression technique in analyzing data. Simple regression or multi stage regression is also introduced to analyze the variables in social sciences.

• Writing a Thesis in Population Studies - After learning the basic techniques and necessary tools to study the population, this course will help the student to do a thesis on the subject matter with the much needed consultation with thesis adviser.

Cognates in Demography Curriculum:

• Other relevant sociological subjects like Gender and Society etc. are also good as cognates. Other Cognate subjects include Nuptiality or the study of marriage in relation to Demography, Economics of Population, Labor Force Economics subjects.
• Other Social Sciences areas like Anthropology, Psychology or Mass Communications subjects can be used as cognates as well..