ABSTRACT
This chapter begins by discussion of components of population change by looking at mortality since death is a well-defined event that happens to everyone. Populations with a high proportion of the very young and the elderly can expect (other things being equal) to have higher crude death rates (CDRs) than populations largely composed of young and middle-aged people. Death rates can be criticized in that the denominator population is a somewhat fluid concept. Suppose we want a death rate specific to 40-year-old males in 1986; then we really need to know, not only how many men aged 40 completed years died in 1986, but the average number of 40-year-old men alive in 1986. Many of the summary techniques used to describe mortality carry over into the other components of change. Strictly speaking, marriage does not contribute directly to population change, but, because of its association with the legitimacy of births in most countries, marriage rates have been of some interest.
