Family Demography

Abstract

For most purposes of population study there is no need to consider any unit intermediate between the individual and the larger group consisting of all the individuals included within some area{--}state, province, county, or nation. Recognizing only two units, population and individual, permits the construction of models that are readily expounded and understood. Demographers, following in the footsteps of Lotka and other predecessors, have worked hard to simplify this much-too-complex material.