Demography

The study of the distribution, density, and vital statistics of populations. The statistical study of populations with reference to natality, mortality, migratory movements, age, and sex, among other social, ethnic, environmental, and economic factors indicate the processes which contribute to population structure and their temporal and spatial dynamics.

The study of population. It is difficult to study the size of ancient human populations, since it is most unlikely that skeletons excavated from sites in a given area represent the local population size reliably. However, age and sex may be determined from most human skeletons, and study of the proportions of different age-groups and sexes may yield valuable information about the way of life of an ancient population. See AGEING OF SKELETAL MATERIALS.