Samuel H. Preston is Frederick J. Warren Professor of Demography and Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences
at the University of Pennsylvania. He has written monographs on mortality patterns, world urbanization, the history
of child health, and other subjects. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical
Society.
Guillot, Michel : Harvard University
Patrick Heuveline is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Research Associate of the Population Research Center
at the University of Chicago. His recent work applies demographic analysis to such diverse topics as the Cambodian
genocide and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Heuveline, Patrick : University of Chicago
Michel Guillot is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, where
his research focuses on formal demography and mortality in developing countries. He has a Ph.D. in Demography and
Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania.
Review
"This will be a bible for demographers in coming years and decades."
--Professor James Vaupel, Founding Director, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
"It is really a graduate-level textbook of formal demography. As such, it is sorely needed. I will certainly
use it as my basic textbook when it comes out. The authors have done an excellent job of keeping this interesting
and informative."
--Professor Kenneth Hill, Director of the Johns Hopkins Population Center
Blackwell Publishers Web Site, April, 2001
Summary
This book presents and develops the basic methods and models that are used by demographers to study the behavior
of human populations. The procedures are clearly and concisely developed from first principles, and extensive applications
are presented.
The authors focus on quantitative procedures for studying the growth and structure of populations, including measurement
of fertility and mortality, population projection, and equilibrium models. The book also covers procedures for
evaluating data quality and estimating demographic parameters when conventional data are deficient. It will provide
a comprehensive introduction to demographic methods for all students and researchers in this subject.
Table of Contents
1. Basic Concepts and Measures.
2. Age-Specific Rates and Probabilities.
3. The Life Table and Single Decrement Processes.
4. Multiple Decrement Processes.
5. Fertility and Reproduction.
6. Population Projection.
7. The Stable Population Model.
8. Demographic Relations in Non-stable Populations.
9. Modelling Age Patterns of Vital Events.
10. Methods for Evaluating Data Quality.
11. Indirect Estimation Methods References.