UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBIMA/MSC IN POPULATION STUDIESPOPULATION THEORIES: PMC500

A demographic perspective is a way of relating basic information to theories about how the world relates demographically.

Helps get a handle on population problems and issues as it guides through the relationships between population factors and the rest of what is going on in society.

Creates an awareness about political or social problems in terms of the influence that demographic changes have had and the demographic consequences of events.

One’s demographic perspective is how they view the world’s social, political, technological and economic issues through the window of demographic dynamics - how these issues relate to population change and consequences of this population change.

Use of existing past doctrines and theories on demography help one develop their own perspective.

Existing Perspectives Premodern Doctrines and Modern Theories.

Premodern Include such examples as Ancient Judaism in

1300 BC Plato was an early proponent of the doctrine that

quality in humans is more important than quantity

Mercantilist: increase in national wealth depended on a growing population that can stimulate export trade

The physiocrats :wealth of a nation is in land and not people therefore population size depended on the wealth of the land, which is stimulated by free trade.

Modern Perspectives Malthusian: food supply cannot keep up with

population growth since food supply could only grow at an arithmetic rate while population would grow at a geometric rate

Neo Mathulsian: These theorists criticised Malthus insistence on the value of moral restraint while accepting many of his other conclusions.

Marxian : capitalists - over population and poverty, socialism - population growth readily absorbed by the economy with no side effects.

Whenever considering most global issues we cannot shy away from the role that population growth, size, distribution and structure play.

Having my background in Commerce, it is interesting for me to explore how population factors come in play in the world of business.

Of importance to all businesses is the ability to efficiently and effectively market the business in order to stay ahead of competition.

Population growth and size –awareness of the this data can help an entrepreneur to decide what business to venture in, or an investor to know where to invest.

For example for a fast growing population it would be wise for an investor to invest in an agricultural firm, because demand for food increases as population increases translating to more income.

Population distribution – One of the principles of marketing (The 4Ps) is Place and refers to where one’s customers are located. Population distribution can help curve out a niche that has not yet been reached and develop suitable product.

E.g., Equity Bank of Kenya has mobile banking to provide commercial banking services to the rural unbanked, where infrastructural limitations do not allow establishment of branches.

Population structure – Awareness of composition of a population in terms of age and sex can help create a competitive edge.

E.g during the baby boom era of 1946 – 1964, baby food and other baby products saw a growth in companies such as Johnson & Johnson; as the generation continued ageing there were other opportunities such as school construction in the 1960’s and then real estate in the 1980’s.

In the United States, approximately 79 million babies were born during the Baby Boom.

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