International Journal of Epidemiology 2003;32:168
© International Epidemiological Association 2003
Book Review |
Démographie: Analyse et Synthèse.
Caselli G, Vallin J, Wunsch G (eds). Paris: Institut National d’Études Demographique. Vol. I La Dynamique des Populations, 2001, pp. 550, €45.73 ISBN: 2 7332 2011 X; Vol. II Les Déterminants de la Fécondité, 2002, pp. 460, €38.00 ISBN: 2 7332 2012 8.
Synthesis and Analysis in Demography, presently in French (Démographie: Analyse et Synthèse) is an ambitious treatise prepared by several renowned demographers, led by G Caselli (Rome, Italy), J Vallin (Paris, France), and G Wunsch (Louvain-la Neuve, Belgium).
Population Dynamics (La Dynamique des Populations) volume 1, and The Determinants of Fertility (Les Déterminants de la Fécondité) volume 2, are two recently published, among seven planned, volumes of this treatise on demography. The volumes that follow will cover determinants of mortality and migration, population in time and space, the consequences of demographic change, and population policy and ideas.
Nearly a hundred collaborators have been invited to contribute to this series whose principal aim is to synthesize the progress achieved in the field of population since World War II.
The objective of the authors is to provide an overview of the wealth of articles and short publications offered in journals and periodicals. These are numerous, but as a group they lack a complete and systematic view of demographic science, its methods, and its results at the beginning of the 21st century.
The first volume, Population Dynamics, is a major introduction to the volumes that follow. D Courgeau, N Keilman, E Lelièvre, J Vaupel, J Wilmoth, and A Yashin have collaborated with the three main authors to complete it. This volume contains five parts: Population growth; Longitudinal approach— description of demographic process inside a generation; Transversal analysis (with a very clear and interesting course on standardization and confounding factors quite unusual in a demographic treatise); A first synthesis of the components of the population dynamics; and New prospects for demographic analysis, from homogeneity to heterogeneity.
The interaction between the different aspects of population dynamics requires a strong foundation of knowledge in each of these different components.
The Determinants of Fertility is the second volume of the treatise. P Antoine, M Bozon, B J de Bruijn, P David, P Festy, C Gourbin, H Joshi, H Léridon, R Lesthaeghe, T Locoh, K Neels, S Salvini, A Santini, and GD Zuanna have contributed to this volume. By reviewing all statistical methods of demographic analysis related to marital status and fertility as well as analyses in various socioeconomic contexts, it covers the first of the three key factors that act on population dynamics. It contains three different parts: Constitution of couples: the prelude to fertility; Biological and social factors of fertility at the level of individual and couple; and Socioeconomic factors of fertility.
This outstanding series is particularly welcome. So much in demography has changed in the last 50 years, including methodology and aspects of our populations, that a general manual is a very important contribution. Particularly for Francophones, it provides an excellent opportunity to have direct access to the theory, calculations, and all the methodological aspects of demographic science which are sometimes elusive when presented in English.
We can only regret that no index has been provided for the already published books.
The authors have also planned to publish in English and Italian. We look forward to the following volumes in due course, and hope that the English and Italian versions are published simultaneously.
In summary, this excellent enterprise will certainly constitute an indispensable reference tool for generations of students and professionals.
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