ABSTRACT
Over the past 20 years the countries in eastern and southern Africa have experienced some dramatic demographic changes. Demography can be defined as ‘the scientific study of human populations, including their sizes, compositions, distributions, densities, growth, and other characteristics, as well as the causes and consequences of changes in these factors’ (Haupt and Kane 1998). The emphasis in this chapter is on changes in fertility and mortality; significant population movements in the region as a result of rural-urban migration and the displacement of people by political violence have also occurred and are covered elsewhere in this volume (see Chapter 11 on Urbanisation and Chapter 9 on Geographies of Governance and Regional Politics).
