Health and Demography

BY : Nojoud Zoraib
Objectives :
• Definition of both demography and health.
• Why we need to know about demogrphy in health.
• Factors affect demography.
• Importance of demographics statistics in health.
• The relation between mechanical movment affect in
health.
• The relation between natural movement and health.
Definition of demography :
Study of change in the number of births ,
marriages, death, etc (size of population) in a
particular area during a period of time .

Health :
Is a state of complete physical , mental and social
well-being and not merely absence of disease or
infirmity . And it is a dynamic not static .
 Why we need to know about demogrphy
in health ?

• Health and health care need a population knowned its size and
characteristics to be applied on .
• basic understanding of demography is essential for puplic
health practitioner because health of communities and
individuals depends on a dynamic relationship between the
number of people and space they occupy and skills the acquired
.
STATICS studies amount and structure of population according
to age, gender, profession, etc.

IMPORTANCE OF DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS:

 Estimation of health indices of the population (birth rate,
death rate, average life expectancy, final parameters of
reproduction);
Planning, accommodation and forecasting of staff network of
public health service on the basis of amount and structure of
the population;
Estimation of efficiency of planning and forecasting of
medico-social actions;
Deep statistical analysis of its health condition, activity of
medical institutions, precisely to plan their work.
the main method for estimation of population static is :

POPULATION CENSUS is the special scientifically

organized state statistical operation for account and
analysis the size of the population, its structure and
distribution .
Population size : the number persons in the population

Structure is the distribution of population among its sex

(males : females) and age groupings ( young : old ) by
population pyramids
Distribution refers to the arrangement of the population in
space at a given time
 Low of 70
• If a population is growing at a constant rate of 1% per
year, it can be expected to double approximately
every 70 years

• If the rate of growth is 2%, then the expected

doubling time is 70/2 or 35 years.
Mechanical movement
migration :
The process of people travelling to a new places to live , usually in
large numbers
Can be :
Internal migration:
migration within a country e.g. rural to urban
International migration:
migration skilled professionals to other countries
………………….
Involuntary:
Involuntary slavery, ethnic persecution, wars, natural disasters,
famines
Voluntary:
Voluntary to seek jobs (skilled or unskilled), to get an education,
because of marriage
Migration & Health
• Migrants (workers, prostitutes, truck drivers) may spread infectious
diseases e.g. HIV/AIDS, TB, diphtheria

• Jet travel speeds up disease transmission

• Migrants often live in urban slums and experience adjustment

problems (these can affect their physical or mental health)
Natural movement of population :

• It is a set of such demographical phenomena as birth rate , death

rate , the data of marriges , divorces , average duration of
forthcoming life which registered in medical institutions and
establishment of civil registration .
• Birth rate (fertility) can be affected by many factors :
Culture : prefer large or small families , polygamy
Ecenomics : the cost of looking after children
Health : disease e.g. STD , contraception , abortions , breastfeeding
Can be calculated by crude birth rate =
• Death rate (mortality) divided into 3 groups :
Age related ( infants- maternal
Cause ( blood circulation disease , malignancy , etc )
Sex related
Can be calculated by crude death rate=
• Index of natural increase ( life expectancy )
Developing countries have high death rates because
Dirty, unreliable water supplies
Poor housing conditions
Poor access to medical sevices
Endemic disease in some countries
Diets that are short in calories and/or protein
Developed countries have low death rates because
Good housing conditions
Safe water supplies
More than enough food to eat
Advanced medical services which are easy to access
Some developed countries have a high death rate as they have an ageing
population with many older people.
 Life expectancy
• Life expectancy is the average number of years which a person of a
particular age may expect to live
• It is one of the best indicators of a country’s level of development and
overall health status
• The life expectancy of people all over the world has been increasing
• This parameter characterizes viability of the population as a whole: it
does not depend on features of age structure of the population and is
suitable for the analysis in dynamics and comparisons of the data of
different countries.