Abstract
Demography is the study of populations—viewed regionally, nationally, or globally—describing the numbers of people and the dynamics of population change. Demographic studies reveal the phenomenon of increasing numbers and increasing proportion of older people in the United States and in other developed countries. This phenomenon is so predictable that it has become a measure of improved economic and health status of nations in the 20th Century. Aging populations are the result of three major factors: fertility, mortality, and immigration. This discussion concerns the United States, where in the last half century immigration has not been a major influence on mortality patterns, and thus will not discuss immigration in any detail.
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Cassel, C.K., Brody, J.A. (1990). Demography, Epidemiology, and Aging. In: Cassel, C.K., Riesenberg, D.E., Sorensen, L.B., Walsh, J.R. (eds) Geriatric Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2093-8_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-2093-8_2
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