Some populations are old and shrinking, others experience high fertility and are growing fast, and many experience sudden disruptions triggered by unforeseen circumstances such as humanitarian crises or epidemics. Each of these scenarios fundamentally change the outlook of the societies wherein we live, with immediate implications for setting policy priorities and resource allocation. In this course, we introduce key methods for quantifying population attributes and change, with a focus on health and mortality.
What you will learn
The majority of the teaching sessions are centered around the computation and interpretation of key demographic and health indicators. Whereas the focus in this course is on data and methods, we often relate these to the evidence that is invoked to inform broader substantive and policy debates.
The course is structured around 11 sessions on a specific family of methods, and 2 sessions with in-dept discussion of data sources, their strengths and weaknesses. The following topics are covered in the course (subject to minor changes):
- Describing populations with statistics: Ratios, probabilities and rates, population composition and change.
- Measuring mortality and standardisation: Crude Death Rate (CDR), age-specific death rates, direct and indirect standardisation, other mortality indices (IMR, U5MR, MMR).
- Life tables: Period and cohort life tables, the life expectancy (at birth).
- Life table extensions and applications: the life table as a stationary population, survivorship ratios, and the Net Reproduction Rate (NRR).
- Fertility: concepts and definitions, child/woman ratio, the Crude Birth Rate (CBR), the General Fertility Rate (GFR), age-specific fertility rates, the Total Fertility Rate (TFR).
- Cohort fertility and parity progression: Period versus cohort fertility (tempo distortions), Completed Family Size (CFS), Parity Progression Ratio’s (PPR).
- Birth Intervals and the proximate determinants of fertility
- Understanding data sources (1): censuses, vital registration (cause of death statistics), and surveys.
- Understanding data sources (2): longitudinal studies, demographic surveillance, and big data.
- Measures of morbidity and mortality: Health expectancies (i.e., Sullivan’s active life expectancy and Disability Adjusted Life Expectancy), and health gap measures (e.g., Disability Adjusted Life-Years, DALY).
- Migration: definitions, migration as a component of population change, data sources, age patterns of migration, approaches to estimating migration.
- Life tables with multiple causes of death: multiple decrement life tables and cause-deleted life tables
- Nuptiality: marriage rates (decremental versus non-decremental rates), indirect median age at first marriage, current status life tables (e.g., Singulate Mean Age at Marriage), nuptiality tables.
Who should apply
This course is designed for both analysts who wish to apply demographic methods in their work, and users of demographic and health indicators who wish to better understand how estimates and indicators come about.
Teaching methods/assessments
Most classroom sessions are divided into a lecture with discussion, and a tutorial with an application of one or more of the methods covered in the lecture. Each year, we invite one or more guest speakers with first-hand experience in data collection and processing.
Computer requirements
Students are expected to bring their own laptop for the tutorials. Students can choose to use Excel, Stata or R during these tutorials, and support is provided for all three packages (annotated solutions as a bare minimum).
Duration and timetable
| Week 1-5 | Week 6 (Reading Week) | Week 7-11 |
| 3 October - 31 October | 4 November - 8 November | 13 November - 12 December |
| Half day per week | Reading and researching, no classes | Two half days per week |
| Thursdays, 9:30 - 12:45 | Wednesdays, Thursdays, 9:30 - 12:45 |
The assessment is scheduled for 9:30 am on Thursday, 12 December.
As a complement to the lectures, students are given access to pre-recorded video lectures with full transcripts and closed captions (for most topics), and a set of background reading materials pitched to audiences with different levels of prior quantitative training. In order to maximise learning, they can familiarise themselves with these materials ahead of the classroom sessions. In some instances, students will be asked to prepare exercises ahead of the tutorials or finalise them after the session.
Module fee
- £2,820
Applications are now closed for 2024/25 entry.
Application deadline
- 1 September 2024
Visa information
Please refer to the current visa requirements for short-term study.
Entry requirements
There are no specific entry requirements for this course.