Building demographic literacy
Crews, K.
Population Today 21(7-8): 1-2 9
1993
ISSN/ISBN: 0749-2448 PMID: 12286890 Document Number: 328887
Students should get in the habit of seeking out the most current projections, estimates, or rates available. Since demographic measures change over time, publications based on the UN's world population projections from 1980 or 1990 may need to be supplemented using the UN's most current, 1992, projections. A 1989 Census Bureau report on the African American Population will not contain data from the 1990 Census or the 1992 Current Population Survey, conducted by the Census Bureau. Some groups collect data with advocacy in mind, as shown by the range of estimates of participants at the 1993 National March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. The organizers estimated that 1 million people participated; the US Park Police estimated 300,000; and the Washington Blade, a gay newspaper, reported 750,000. A seemingly innocuous choice of phrasing can change the meaning of demographic data. One commonly misreported concept is population doubling time which is not a prediction, but rather a concept designed to accent how fast a population is growing at the present time. At current rates, the population of India would double in size in 34 years, but it is more likely that growth rates will begin to slow down somewhat during that time. Older students may be encouraged to examine the assumptions behind population projections. The UN's long-range projection that world population will grow to 10 billion by 2050 is based on certain assumption about fertility and mortality during the period. With regard to the fastest growing US minority, Hispanics added the largest number of people to the US population during the 1980s, but Asians had the largest percent increase. The time to initiate demographic literacy is in the early grades of school.