Applied Demography at the Beginning of the 21st Century

Applied Demography is evolving as its practitioners become involved in the emerging trends of the 21st century. Data bases, substantive issues, and methodological approaches seldom considered just a few years ago have become mainstream concerns in the area of applied demography. For example, the availability of current micro-data only dreamed of a generation ago - annual data for block groups - will be a reality by the end of the first decade of the century, while estimates and projections of disaster-impacted populations, although of periodic concern, have become major areas of analysis in this post-9/11 and post-Katrina era. Similarly, spatial measures and increasingly sophisticated forms of GIS-related analyses previously used only in specialized analyses in geography have become of central concern.