As we begin our discussion here, however, it is essential to present a more complete and technically correct definition. Demography is usually defined by the professional as the study of the size, distribution, and composition of populations; the processes determining these—namely fertility, mortality, and migration; and the determinants and consequences of all of the above (see Bogue 1968; Murdock and Ellis 1991). Demographers sometimes further differentiate between “formal demographers,” who specifically focus on the demographic processes and the technical measurement of these factors and their implications for populations, and “social demographers,” who stress the effects of demographic factors on other social, economic, and nondemographic factors. Others may differentiate between the pure or basic-science demographers, who seek knowledge of demographic factors and their impacts for knowledge’s sake, and the “applied demographers,” who use such information to address pragmatic questions.
Box 1.1: Demography in the Media
Consider these headlines featured in recent issues of leading newspapers and news weeklies in the U.S.:
- “Flow of illegal immigrants to U.S. unabated”
- “2030 forecast: mostly gray”
- “Smaller percentage of poor live in high-poverty areas”
Once considered the domain of the pocket-protector crowd, issues related to demography are now a mainstream staple for news consumers.
Immigration, same-sex marriage, social security reform, prison populations—they’re all fuel for interest in demography, the study of human population and its structure and change.
And when stories pertain to demographics—understanding what people think, what they are willing to buy, and how many fit this profile—interest levels soar.
Demography is a descriptive and predictive science. Demographics is an applied art and science. In both cases, the objects of study are the characteristics of human populations.
And when humans are the subject, other humans are sure to follow.
In the case of demography, the characteristics being studied tend to emphasize biological processes such as population dynamics; demographics is also concerned with a wide range of economic, social, and cultural characteristics.
Certainly, the demographer’s work isn’t simply to indulge the curiosity of the masses. However, serious analysis by the media of populations, patterns, and institutions has made for front-page news:
- In the political and judicial arena, subjects such as voting, representation and redistricting, jury selection, criminal justice, and prison populations have all made headlines.
- In the education arena, educational attainment, enrollment, and school redistricting are regular staples for news columns and airwaves.
- In the economic arena, subjects such as labor force, retirement, gender and race and income inequality are hot topics as are those in the family arena, such as living arrangements, commute times, and health providers.
Indeed, stories that feature a real person’s life experience—a face behind the numbers—serves the public’s need and desire to know about forces affecting their lives.
Journalist William Dunn (1992:191), author of Selling the Story, calls this bringing the numbers to life. “By delving into the grassroots repercussions of demographic trends and citing real-life examples, you can make the data understandable and palatable to readers and listeners who are eager to know how trends will affect them.”
That doesn’t mean reporters get the story right all the time. Mathematics is a chronic problem in the journalism field. Since numbers are at the heart of demography and demographics, the correction columns of U.S. newspapers attest to the pressure-filled rush to meet deadlines. There are often sweeping generalizations drawn from specific cases, exaggeration, and use of inappropriate data to quantify something.
Conclusions drawn from numbers are often “spun” by so-called experts pushing an agenda. The shade and tone of a story, in which the highlighting of one set of factors or statistics over another, can also lead to garbled and “misinformed” information.
News media reports involving demography generally can be categorized two ways: popular and important. Important stories are rarely popular because they tend to showcase crucial issues society does not want to face. Popular stories are rarely important because they most often are reduced to “info-tainment”—fodder for crossword puzzles.
Some of the most popular and important demographically based stories in the media emerge from the U.S. Census Bureau. A census generates news of historical significance. After all, an old joke goes, it was a census that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.
Interest in the census stems from how the numbers have changed—that is, their variance. Variance is news. Walter Lippmann (1965:216) noted this in the early twentieth century when he said, “The more points… at which any happening can be fixed, objectified, measured, named, the more points there are at which news can occur.”
Some recent data releases by the U.S. Census Bureau illustrate the point. Indeed, the Bureau has become adept at generating news (and justifying the importance of the Census Bureau):
- Texas Becomes Nation’s newest “Majority-minority” state, Census Bureau announces (Aug. 11, 2005)
- Nation adds 3 million people in last year; Nevada again fastest-growing state. (Dec. 22, 2004)
- Florida, California, and Texas to dominate future population growth, Census Bureau reports. (April 21, 2005)
News organizations often take Census Bureau news releases and attempt to localize them for their readers and viewers. Newsrooms devoted to news Web sites will often go the extra mile and create databases from census data releases so that readers may search and find just the information they’re looking for. Indeed, the Census Bureau’s Web site is bookmarked on many reporters’ favorites list.
One of the more popular features provided by the Census Bureau is the “special report” issued on holidays.
Take Halloween of 2004. The Bureau estimated the number of potential “trick-or-treaters”—5 to 13 year olds—at 36.8 million. Who knew?
And how many potential stops could trick-or-treaters make at housing units occupied year-round? 106 million.
And where are “some places around the country that may put you in the Halloween mood?” How about Transylvania County, N.C. (29,406 residents) or Tombstone, Ariz. (population 1,547) or Skull Creek, Neb. (population 296).
As interesting as such information might be, there are far more important demographically based stories to report. Just ask members of Congress, whose districts in the U.S. House of Representatives are subject to change (or elimination) following U.S. Census population measurements. Indeed, some of the most important issues of our time—social security, welfare reform, voting patterns, transportation, environmental policy, and federal aid to cities and states based on population–are key subjects of study for demographers and news consumers.
In the end, the best expression of a worthwhile media story about demography may well have been written by British mathematician Ian Stewart (1987:3) in The Problems of Mathematics. If for “mathematics” you substitute “demography” (or whatever specialized subject you’re reading), you’ll find some pretty sound advice not only for consuming media but also for creating it. “Tell us what the problems are, where they come from, how they get solved, what the people who solve them are like, what you can do with the answers when you’ve got them, what problems haven’t been solved yet, how solving them or failing to solve them changes people’s views of what [mathematics] is and where it’s going.”
Despite the obvious breadth of topics covered by professional demographers, the term demographics has an even wider meaning. Demographics is a nontechnical term generally used to connote information and data on the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of a population that affect its use of, its participation in, and/or its access to specific types of goods and services. It involves the examination of how demographic factors affect such things as the markets for goods and services, school enrollment, the best location for a commercial facility, or the identification of the appropriate populations for labor force recruitment.
The forms of analyses being examined in this work obviously fit within the realm of the social and applied forms of demography. Although some technical issues will be discussed as they are used in applied areas, readers wanting more technical explanations should refer to more specialized texts (see, for example, Siegel and Swanson 2004; Siegel 2002).