The following questions are guidelines for your essays. It is not necessary for you to address every question I have raised. Some may be unanswerable or irrelevant for your country and you may think of others that seem better. In deciding which issues to focus upon, use your own judgment or consult with me. The guidelines for organizing your demographic profile in conjunction with the reading in Weeks, Population, Seventh Edition, are as follows:

Chapter 1 Describe the history of population growth over time, leading to the current demographic situation. What is the current population, and how has the population grown over time? What is the current rate of growth? And what is the implied doubling time? What are the crude birth and death rates, the rate of natural increase, the incidence of internal migration, and the rate of international in- or out-migration?

Chapter 2 Discuss the sources of data available for your country, including census data, vital registration data, and survey data (if it is a developing country see if any data are available from the Demographic Health Surveys: http://www.measuredhs.com/.

Chapter 3 Do some research on the prevailing political philosophy of your chosen country. Would this philosophy come closest to Malthus, Marx, or someone (or something) else? How much of the demographic transition has this nation experienced? Has the timing of demographic events been consistent with the transition perspective? Are rates of natural increase high in rural areas? Is there evidence of rapid rural-to-urban migration that might be consistent with the perspective of demographic change and response?

Chapter 4 Find as much information as possible about mortality--age/sex-specific mortality rates, life expectancy, and deaths by cause--for at least two different dates. Compare the data. What are the mortality trends? Two sources you might consult for information, if you cannot find official government publications, are:

http://www.census.gov/ipc/www and/or

http://www.who.ch/whosis as well as

Murray, Christopher J.L. Murray and Alan D. Lopez, The Global Burden of Disease: A Comprehensive Assessment of Mortality and Disability From Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors in 1990 and Projected to 2020 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), 1996.

Given the prevailing cultural norms, what is the likely rank-ordering of "real" causes of death, compared to those given in the vital statistics?

Chapter 5 Using survey data (such as: http://www.measuredhs.com/ or http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/infonation/e_infonation.htm) or any other available source investigate how each of the intermediate variables seems to operate to influence fertility levels (some of this information may be gleaned from tables in the World Bank's annual World Development Report--see http://www.worldbank.org/. Find or calculate as many of the different measures of fertility as possible for at least two different dates (the U.S. Bureau of the Census's International Database is particularly useful for this: http://www.census.gov/ipc/www). What changes have been occurring over time? Do different measures of fertility yield somewhat different interpretations of trends?

Chapter 6 Referring again to the data you found above (related to Chapter 5), draw as many conclusions as you can about the probable underlying motivations for the observed fertility levels and trends over time. Which theories of the fertility transition seem to best explain the data that you have acquired for this country? You may wish to do a literature review on fertility in that country by visiting the Population Index online at: http://popindex.princeton.edu.

Chapter 7 What are the patterns of internal migration, especially rural-to-urban migration? What are the patterns of migration from or to other countries? Are there any studies available relating migration to other demographic (such as fertility) or socioeconomic (such as labor force participation) variables? Are the data available to calculate migration rates by age and/or to calculate the migration ratio? Which of the various theories of migration seem best able to explain patterns of migration within, to, and/or from this country? A good resource for information is Migration News, which is online at: http://migration.ucdavis.edu

Chapter 8 Construct age/sex pyramids for two different dates (go to:

http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbpyr.html), and for urban and rural populations, if such data are available. If such data are available, they will be published in the United Nations Demographic Yearbook and should be available on the International Database of the U.S. Bureau of the Census: http://www.census.gov/ipc/www. Also calculate the average age and the dependency ratio for those two dates. "Read" the age structure, discussing the implied history of population growth, and the implications for the future of the current cohort structure.

Chapter 9 What is the number and proportion of older people in the population, and how have those figures been changing over time? How are older people treated? Are there differences in sociodemographic characteristics between the young and old in society that would suggest a source of future social change as new cohorts flow into the older ages? What is the sex ratio at the older ages, and how do you account for it?

Chapter 10 Describe the trends over time in family and household structure. Are they related to changes in age at marriage and/or to changes in gender roles? How do the population characteristics of women compare with those of men? Have there been recent changes in education and labor force participation, for example, that might suggest a rise in the status of women? Note that most of these data will probably have to come from a source such as the United Nations Demographic Yearbook. Has fertility yet been affected by the status of women? What evidence can you bring to bear on that question? Are husbands typically several years older than their wives? What are the implications of such findings?

Chapter 11 What have been the changes between two recent dates in the sizes of the rural and urban populations? Are data available on rural and urban differences in rates of natural increase? What are the long-run historical changes in the percent urban? Do urban places tend to have relatively high or low population densities? What is the density of the rural population? Go to the website http://www.terraserver.com to see if there are any satellite images of the urban and rural areas of the country, so that you can visually contrast the differences. Are there any studies available of rural or village life, with which you can contrast the human condition in the cities?

Chapter 12 Using resources such as the United Nations Yearbook of National Accounts Statistics or the World Bank's most recent World Development Report (http://www.worldbank.org/, estimate the level of economic development and assess changes over time for the same dates for which you have demographic data. Are there any discernible trends in the relationship between population changes and economic changes in the country? What is the government position with respect to economic development and population growth? Can you assess the influence of the current age/sex structure on the future development prospects? Using a resource such as the World Bank World Development Report evaluate the likely environmental impact of population growth in this country. Describe the specific kinds of environmental changes known to have occurred during at least the last 10 years. Using the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization's Production Yearbook (http://www.fao.org), determine the level of food production, and trends over time. What are the principal products grown? What are the levels of imports and exports of major agricultural products? Has per person production been increasing? Has the number of tractors been increasing? Has the use of fertilizers, pesticides, and other concomitants of the Green Revolution been increasing over time? Has the amount of arable land been increasing or decreasing? Has the acreage devoted to forest been declining?

Chapter 13 Place yourself in the role of prime minister of this country. What would be your desired social and economic goals, and what kind of population policy would most likely help to achieve that goal or set of goals? Is this the same as or different than the population policy (if any) currently being pursued?

Chapter 14 Focus on health and education planning, locating data, for example (since data are more apt to be available to you from United Nations sources--see, for example:

http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/infonation/e_infonation.htm). Given the population projections for the country, what kinds of health and educational resources must be planned for during the next 10 or 20 years? What might be the social, economic, and demographic consequences of failing to provide adequate personnel and facilities to meet the health and education needs of the population?

Summary Summarize your findings and draw whatever you think are the important conclusions regarding the demographic future of the country you have profiled.