Demographic perspective. Demography: science of population. World population growth. Geographic distribution of the world's population. Current differences in growth rates. Global variation in population size and rates of growth. Demographic resources. Sources of demographic data. Who uses population data? Demographic uses of geographic information systems. Demographic perspectives. Premodern population doctrines. Malthusian perspective. Marxist perspective. Other early modern population theories. Theory of the demographic transition. Theory of demographic change and response. Relative income hypothesis. Theories about the consequence of population growth. Population processes. Mortality. Causes of death. Epidemiological transition. Urban and rural differentials in mortality. Social status differentials in mortality. Gender differentials in mortality. Age differentials in mortality. Fertility concepts and measurements. How can fertility be controlled? Measuring fertility. Fertility trends, levels and explanations. Fertility transition. High fertility. Higher fertility countries. Low fertility. Lower fertility countries. Migration. Measuring migration. Why do people choose to migrate. People who are forced to migrate. Where do people migrate? Population structure and characteristics. Age and sex structure. Impact of population processes on age/ sex structures. Population aging. What is old? Individual aging. Social context of aging and the life course. Sex and age structure of the older population. Family demography and life changes. Transformation of families and households. Proximate determinants of changing household structure. Changing life chances and the transformation of families and households. Social impact of demographic shifts in household composition. Urban transition. Urbanization. Demographic components. Theories of urban transition. Impact of urbanization on the human condition. Population, development and the environment. Population growth and development. What is economic development? Economic growth and economic development. Statistical bases. Ideological bases. Mexico as a case study. Population growth, food and the environment. Relationship between agricultural and industrial revolutions. Environmental concepts and definitions. Overshooting the carrying capacity? How can food production be increased? Famine and the weather. Degradation of the environment. Assessing the role of population in environmental degradation. Using the demographic perspective. Population policy. What is a policy? Who needs a population policy? Who has a population policy? Retarding growth. Beyond family planning -- engineering social change. Promoting or maintaining growth. World population conferences. Planning for a bifurcated world -- the old and the young. Demographics. Uses of demographics. Geographic information systems -- the tool of demographics/ Business planning. Social planning. Political planning. Career in demographics. Life table, net reproduction rate and standardization. Mean length of generation. Standardization.