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A Demography Timeline by Ed Stephan -- want to send suggestions? visit my homepage? This was originally written at the request of the editors of to-be-revised Materials and Methods in Demography. It's modeled on my Timeline of Sociology. Two years after I submitted it the editors decided to dump it. I hope you find it useful/interesting in this format. I used a wide variety of sources in compiling this list; I can't mention each of them, but maybe just the presence of the items will be a springboard to further work (I am, blessedly, retired). Note added 6 Sep 07: I thank Etelka Daroczi for pointing out numerous typographical errors in an earlier version. |
| 3800 BC | Babylonian census (for taxation purposes) |
| 2323 | Egyptian cattle-census becomes annual (every two years before that) |
| 2275 | earliest record of taxpaying households in China (may go back to 3000 BC) |
| 1500 | Israelites begin to regularly register men of military age (Numbers, I) |
| 1450 | ruins of Knossos reveal an annual census of flocks and shearings and of the shepherds responsible |
| 1400 | Egyptians begin to regularly register their citizens |
| 1055 | King David (reign 1055-15) takes a census of Israel; II Samuel, 24:9 reports 800,000 men, I Chronicles, 21:5 reports 1,100,000; Yahweh, who didn't want the census, kills 70,000 thus producing the first overcount |
| _578-34 | reign of Servius Tullius; he ordered first Roman census (from "censere" to assess); 83,000 citizens counted and grouped for military, taxation and voting purposes |
| _400 | Rome enumerates 120,000 adult male citizens |
| _360 | Plato refers Laws,IV, relates population pressure to colonial emigration |
| _350 | Aristotle refers Politics,Book V, to "cities in which the census is taken annually and in larger cities every third or fifth year" |
| _250 | Indian philosopher Kautilya refers Arthashastra to danger of under- as well as over-population |
| _131-0 | Rome enumerates 318,823 adult male citizens |
| __86-5 | Rome enumerates 463,000 adult male citizens |
| __28 | Rome enumerates 4,063,000 (some scholars believe this included women and children, though other indications in primary sources suggest this was the total of adult male citizens, including vast extension of citizenship in the empire) |
| ___6-7 AD | first census of Quiriminus, governor of Syria, census associated with Jesus's birth (Luke, 2:2); but note: Herod died in 4 BC, presumably after Jesus was born |
| _645 | Koseki (Japanese family records) introduced as part of the Taika Reforms |
| 1086 | Domesday Book (English landowners and their holdings) |
| 1320 | eruption of the Black Death, Gobi desert; population of China dropped from around 125 million to 90 million in 14th century |
| 1332 May 27 | IBN-KHALDUN (Abd al-Rahman Ibn Mohammad) b., Tunis, modern Tunisia |
| 1347 Oct | Black Death arrives in Messina, Sicily; Marseilles, Jan 1348; Paris, Jul 1348; England, Sep 1348 |
| 1347-52 | population of Europe declines from 75 to 50 million |
| 1375-79 | IBN-KHALDUN: Muqaddimah (an introduction to history, including role of population in culture and history; studied the impact of the Black Death) |
| 1406 Mar 17 | IBN-KHALDUN d., Cairo, Egypt |
| 1536 | Felix PLATTER b., Basel, Switzerland |
| 1544 | Giovanni BOTERO b., Bene Vagienna (Cuneo), Piedmont, Italy |
| 1589 | Giovanni BOTERO: Delle cause della grandezza della città (first of several publications, includes discussion of factors limiting the growth of population) |
| 1598 Apr 17 | Giovanni Battista RICCIOLI b., Ferrara, Italy |
| 1603 Dec 29 ff. | weekly London Bills of Mortality begin (earlier bills, 1592-4, but so discontinuous that GRAUNT ignored them) |
| 1612 | Felix PLATTER: Beschreibung der Stadt Basel 1610 und Pestbericht 1610/11 (first demographic field study - plague in Basel) |
| 1614 Jul 28 | Felix PLATTER d., Basel, Switzerland |
| 1617 | Giovanni BOTERO d., Turin, Italy |
| 1620 Apr 24 | John GRAUNT b. about eight a.m., London, England, eldest of seven or eight children of Henry and Mary; christened one week later at St. Michael, Cornhill |
| 1620 | first English colonial census in the New World (Virginia) |
| 1623 May 26 | William PETTY b. Romsey, Hampshire, England |
| 1625 | plague kills 40,000 in London |
| 1625 | Francis BACON: "Of Seditions and Troubles" (essay which includes "it is to be foreseen that the population of a Kingdom ... do not exceed the stock of the Kingdom which should maintain them." - Bacon may have been the first to use the word "population" in its modern sense) |
| 1648 Dec 15 | Gregory KING b., Lichfield, Staffordshire, England |
| 1656 Nov 8 | Edmund HALLEY b. Haggerston, Shoreditch (near London), England |
| 1661 | Giovanni Battista RICCIOLI: "De verisimili hominum numero," Geographiae et Hydrographiae Reformatae (scholarly estimate of the earth's population and in various states) |
| 1662 Jan 25 | John GRAUNT: Natural and Political Observations ... Made upon the Bills of Mortality with reference to the Government, Religion, Trade, Growth, Ayre, Diseases, and the several Changes of the said City [London] editions: 2nd, 1662; 3rd, 1665; 4th, 1665; 5th (by PETTY), 1676 |
| 1665 | first census in New France (now Québec) |
| 1665 | the Great Plague of London, last and worst outbreak of the Black Death in England, killed 70,000 out of 460,000, from autumn 1664 till Feb 1666 |
| 1670 ff. | Annual reports begin for births, marriages and deaths in Paris |
| 1674 Jun 25 | Giovanni Battista RICCIOLI d., Bologna, Italy |
| 1674 Apr 18 | John GRAUNT d. of jaundice, London, England; buried under 'some pews' in St. Dunstan's Church |
| 1676 | William PETTY: Politicall Arithmetick |
| 1682 | William PETTY: (Another) Essay on Politicall Arithmetick |
| 1683 | William PETTY: Observations on the Dublin Bills of Mortality |
| 1687 Dec 16 | William PETTY d. London, England |
| 1688 | Edward LLOYD opens a coffeehouse on Tower Street in London, a meeting place for bankers, seafarers and merchants and ultimately Lloyd's of London's underwriters |
| 1693 | Edmund HALLEY: An Estimate of the Degrees of Mortality of Mankind (first empirical life table based on births and age-specified deaths in Breslaw, Silesia, recorded by Kasper Neumann, transmitted to Halley by Leibnitz) |
| 1693 | general census for France ordered as an aid to distributing food during a severe shortage |
| 1696 | Gregory KING: Natural and Political Observations and Conclusions upon the State and Conditions of England (includes his "Scheme of the Income & Expence of the Several Families of England") |
| 1702 | German edition of GRAUNT's Bills of Mortality |
| 1707 | Johann Peter SÜSSMILCH b., Prussia |
| 1707 | Sebastian VAUBAN: Projet d'une Dîme Royale (first published population of France, by parishes, with methods of enumeration) |
| 1712 Aug 29 | Gregory KING d., London, England |
| 1723 Jun 5 | Adam SMITH b. Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland |
| 1732 | Jethro TULL: New Horse Hoeing Husbandry (proosals for scientific agriculture stimulate food production, increased dietary protein, lower infant mortality) |
| 1741 Sep 11 | Arthur YOUNG b., London, England |
| 1741 | Johann SÜSSMILCH: Die Göttliche Ordnung in den Veränderungen des menschlichen Geschlechts, aus der Geburt, dem Tode und der Fortplanzung desselben erwissen (The Divine Order..., most painstaking estimate of world population to his time editions: 2nd, 1761; 3rd, 1765) |
| 1742 Jan 14 | Edmund HALLEY d. Greenwich (near London), England |
| 1746 | Antoine DEPARCIEUX: Essai sur les probabilités de la durée de la vie humaine |
| 1748 | Swedish law requiring national compilation of parish vital statistics records |
| 1751 | population of Sweden completely enumerated |
| 1752 | David HUME: "Of the Populousness of Ancient Nations," Political Discourses |
| 1753 | Robert WALLACE: The Numbers of Man in Ancient and Modern Times (French ed., 1760) |
| 1755 | Benjamin FRANKLIN: Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, Peopling of Countries, etc. |
| 1756 Mar 3 | William GODWIN b. Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England |
| 1756 | Victor Marquis de MIRABEAU: L'ami des hommes ou traité de la population (stirred debate over relation of national strength to population structure) |
| 1758 | Johann SÜSSMILCH: Reflections on Epidemic Illnesses and Widespread Death in the Year 1757 |
| 1760 | Leonhard EULER: A General Investigation Into The Mortality And Multiplication Of The Human Species the mathematical conditions which hold under stable population theory |
| 1761 | Robert WALLACE: Various Prospects for Mankind, Nature, and Providence (argues that any 'perfect government' will produce overpopulation; stimulus for GODWIN) |
| 1762 | Abbé Jean D'EXPILLY: Dictionaire géographique, historique, et politique des Gaules et de la France (included vital statistics for two-thirds of the parishes of France) |
| 1765 | Johannn SÜSSMILCH constructed mortality tables for all of Prussia |
| 1766 | Wilhelm WARGENTIN: Mortaliteten i Sverige, i adledning cef Tabell-Verket (Swedish mortality tables, first sex- and age-specific death rates for any nation) |
| 1766 Feb 17 | Thomas MALTHUS b. Surrey, England |
| 1767 | Johann SÜSSMILCH d. Prussia |
| 1767 | Thomas SHORT: A Comparative History of the Increase and Decrease of Mankind |
| 1770 | annual account of vital statistics for each French généralité |
| 1771 Nov 3 | Francis PLACE b., debtor's prison, Drury Lane, London, England |
| 1771 | Arthur YOUNG: Proposals to the Legislature for Numbering the People |
| 1776 | Adam SMITH: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations |
| 1778 | Baron de MONTYON (via MOHEAU): Recherces et considérations sur la population de la France (most precise and general treatise on demography in France up to its time) |
| 1790 Mar 1 | first United States census began; first continuous, period national census |
| 1790 Jul 17 | Adam SMITH d., England |
| 1793 Dec 15 | Henry Charles CAREY b., Philadelphia, PA |
| 1793 | William GODWIN: Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Morals and Happiness (possible ways to limit population growth; response to WALLACE, stimulus for MALTHUS) |
| 1796 Feb 22 | Adolphe QUETELET b., Ghent, Flanders, Belgium |
| 1798 Jan 17 | Auguste COMTE b. (birth registered Jan 19), Montpelier, France |
| 1798 Jun 7 | MALTHUS: An Essay on the Principle of Population, As It Affects the Future Improvement of Society (geometrical population growth outstrips arithmetic expansion in resources) |
| 1800 May 10 | Charles KNOWLTON b. Templeton, MA |
| 1801 | WORLD POPULATION = 1 BILLION |
| 1801 | periodic census begins in England and France |
| 1801 Nov 9 | Robert Dale OWEN b. Glasgow, Scotland |
| 1803 | MALTHUS's Essay, 2nd ed.: An Essay on the Principle of Population; or a View of its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness; with an Inquiry into our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal or Mitigation of the Evils which it Occasions (primarily an attack on the English Poor Laws). editions: 3rd, 1806; 4th, 1807; 5th, 1817; 6th (last) 1826) |
| 1807 Nov 30 | William FARR b. Kenley, Shropshire, England |
| 1812 | Pierre Simon de LAPLACE: Théorie analytique des probabilités (used sampled ratios of populations to births, from 1802 onward, to estimate total births) |
| 1818 May 5 | Karl Heinrich MARX b., Trier, Rheinish Prussia |
| 1819 | US Congress requires passenger lists of all arriving vessels |
| 1820 Apr 20 | Arthur YOUNG d., London, England |
| 1820 | Thomas MALTHUS: Principles of Political Economy |
| 1821 | Jean Baptiste Joseph FOURIER: Recherches sur la population |
| 1822 | Francis PLACE: Illustrations and Proofs of the Principle of Population |
| 1823 | Francis PLACE arrested for distributing "diabolical handbills" advocating birth-control (cervical sponge) |
| 1825 | Benjamin GOMPERTZ: On the Nature of the Function Expressive of the Law of Human Mortality (development of general mortality formulas) |
| 1830 | Robert Dale OWEN: Moral Physiology (recommends coitus interruptus as method of birth-control) |
| 1830 | Michael SADLER: The Law of Population (used census-based indices of fertility) |
| 1830-42 | COMTE: The Positive Philosophy (society driven forward by 'the demographic tendency' toward increased size) |
| 1832 | Charles KNOWLTON: The Fruits of Philosophy: or The Private Companion of Young Married People (methods of birth-control) |
| 1832 | Charles KNOWLTON imprisoned three months, Cambridge MA, for publishing Fruits of Philosophy |
| 1833 | Harriet MARTINEAU: Poor Laws and Paupers |
| 1833 | France established the office of Statistique Générale |
| 1833 Sep 26 | Charles BRADLAUGH b. Hoxton, east London, England |
| 1834 Dec 23 | Thomas MALTHUS d. St Catherine, near Bath, England |
| 1834 Dec 30 | Ernst Georg RAVENSTEIN b. Frankfort, Germany |
| 1835 | Adlphe QUETELET: Sur l'homme et le développement de ses facultés, essai d'une physique sociale |
| 1836 Apr 7 | William GODWIN d., London, England |
| 1837-1840 | CAREY: Principles of Political Economy (first statement of "gravity model" of migration) |
| 1838 | William FARR becomes compiler of abstracts (i.e., birth and death certificates) in England's Registrar General's Office |
| 1839/80 | William FARR: England's first Registrar-General |
| 1839 ff. | Annual Report of the Registrar-General |
| 1841 | Lemuel SHATTUCK: The Vital Statistics of Boston |
| 1841 ff. | Massachusetts State Registration Report |
| 1846 | Belgian census conducted by Adolphe QUETELET (influential, it introduced a careful analysis and critical evaluation of the data compiled) |
| 1847 Oct 1 | Annie BESANT born Annie Wood, London, England |
| 1850 ff. | Otto L. Hübner: Geographisch-statistiche Tabellen (till 1919) |
| 1850 | 7th US Census (new tabulation methods to enable more detailed analyses; use of census data to provide vital statistics for preceding year) |
| 1850 | Charles KNOWLTON d. Winchendon MA |
| 1851 | Adolphe QUETELET: Novelles tables de la mortalité pour la Belgique |
| 1853 | QUETELET: organized a series of international conference on statistics, pushed data-gathering for quinquennial age groups |
| 1854 | James DeBOW: Statistical View of the United States (a 7th census summary including results of all earlier censuses) |
| 1854 Jan 1 | Francis PLACE d. Hammersmith, London, England |
| 1854 | George DRYSDALE: Elements of Social Science (first comprehensive book outlining and defending the birth control movement on broad sociological and economic grounds) |
| 1854 May 11 | Albion Woodbury SMALL b., Buckfield, ME |
| 1855 Mar 23 | Franklin GIDDINGS b. Fairfield Co., CT |
| 1855-65 | complete enumerations for 24 sovereign nations |
| 1855 | Achille GUILLARD: Eléments de statistique humaine ou démographie comparée (coins "démographie") |
| 1855 | Frédéric LePLAY: Les ouvrers européens (relation of family structure to demographic characteristics) |
| 1857 Sep 5 | Auguste COMTE d., Paris, France |
| 1858 Apr 15 | (David) Êmile DURKHEIM b., Êpinal, France |
| 1859 | Charles DARWIN: Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection (esp. Chap 3, The Struggle for Existence, influence of Malthus) |
| 1860 | W.M. MAKEHAM: "On the Law of Mortality and Construction of Annuity Tables," J. Inst. Actuaries (development of general mortality formulas) |
| 1861 | Karl MARX: Theories of Surplus Value (esp. Chap XIX - Darwin's demonstration that plants and animals increase geometrically contradicts Malthus) |
| 1864 Feb 14 | Robert Ezra PARK b., Harveyville, PA |
| 1868 | Georg KNAPP: Über der Ermittlung der Sterblichkeit aus den Auszeichnungen der Bevölkerungs-Statistik (theoretical aspects of life table construction) |
| 1868 | Meniji restoration re-institution of Koseki (household registration system) in Japan |
| 1871 | census of British India, the first for a large non-European country |
| 1874 | registration of vital events becomes obligatory in England and Wales |
| 1874 Feb 17 | Adolphe QUETELET d., Brussels, Belgium |
| 1875 | Wilhelm LEXIS: Einleitung in die Theorie der Bevölkerungs-Statistik (theoretical treatise on demographic statistics; mortality in older ages) |
| 1876 | Georg von MAYR: Die bayerische Bevölkerung nach der Gebürtigkeit (internal migration using census data from Bavaria) |
| 1877 | George DRYSDALE founds England's Malthusian League |
| 1877 | Charles BRADLAUGH and Annie BESANT tried and acquitted in England for selling KNOWLTON's Fruits of Philosophy;sales rose to 250,000 per year |
| 1877 | Annie BESANT: The Law of Population |
| 1877 Jun 24 | Robert Dale OWEN d. Lake George, NY |
| 1878 | Dr. Aletta JACOBS: world's first birth-control clinic, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| 1879 Jun 3 | Raymond PEARL b., Farmington NH |
| 1879 Sep 14 | Margaret SANGER (Margaret Louise Higgins) b. Corning, NY |
| 1879 Oct 13 | Henry Charles CAREY d., Philadelphia, PA |
| 1880 | Alfred James LOTKA b. Lviv, Austria-Hungary (later Poland, now Ukraine) to American missionaries |
| 1880 | Henry Pratt FAIRCHILD b., Dundee IL, USA |
| 1880 | William FARR awarded Gold Medal of the British Medical Association for his work in biostatistics |
| 1882 | 4th (or 5th) international congress on hygiene, at Geneva, is newly titled "Congrès international d'Hygiène et Démographie" and includes a section on "demography" attended by Luigi BODIO (Italy), Richard BÖCKH (Germany), Jacques BERTILLON (France), and KÖRÖSI (Hungary). |
| 1882 | Chinese Exclusion Act (first nationality exclusion in US; followed by ban on Japanese, 1907, and on all Asians, 1917) |
| 1882 Nov 1 | Louis Israel DUBLIN, b. |
| 1882 Apr 19 | Charles Robert DARWIN d., Downe, Kent, England |
| 1883 | Francis GALTON: Natural Inheritance (emphasis on differential fertility) |
| 1883 Apr 14 | William FARR d., London, England |
| 1883 Mar 14 | Karl MARX d., London, England |
| 1884 | Columbia College offers the course "Statistics of Population" covering such demographic topics as density, age, sex, birth, death, marriage, mortality tables, emigration |
| 1884 | Richard BÖCKH: Statistisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Berlin (first net reproduction ratio, 30-4) |
| 1884 May 23 | Corrado GINI b., Motta de Livenza, |
| 1885 | Ernst Georg RAVENSTEIN: Laws of Migration (I) - map of "currents of migration" (gravity model) |
| 1885 | International Statistical Institute organized; Luigi BODIO is its first secretary-general |
| 1886 May 16 | Ernest Watson BURGESS b. Tilbury, Ontario, Canada |
| 1886 Jan 14 | Alexander Morris CARR-SAUNDERS b., Reigate, Surrey, England |
| 1887 | Robert Dale OWEN d. |
| 1889-92 | Êmile LEVASSEUR: Le Population française (comprehensive survey of population trends, including comparisons with other nations) |
| 1889 | Ernst Georg RAVENSTEIN: Laws of Migration (II) |
| 1890 | Arsène DUMONT: Dépopulation et civilization (declining fertility in France) |
| 1891 | Walter WILLCOX: The Divorce Problem‹A Study in Statistics |
| 1891 | director of 1890 census, Francis WALKER: "Immigration and Degradation," Forum (influx led to decline in native fertility) |
| 1891 Jan 30 | Charles BRADLAUGH d. Woking, Sussex |
| 1892 | Albion SMALL: First Sociology Department (University of Chicago |
| 1892 | Office of Immigration established in US |
| 1892 | Albion W. SMALL becomes the first professor of Sociology in the United States, organizes the department at the University of Chicago |
| 1893 | Émile DURKHEIM: On the Division of Labor in Society (demographic 'driver' for history) |
| 1893 | John S. BILLINGS: "The Diminishing Birth-Rate in the United States," Forum (native vs. immigrant fertility) |
| 1894 | Franklin GIDDINGS becomes professor of sociology at Columbia University; many of his students became early leaders in American demography |
| 1894 | Albion SMALL and George VINCENT: An Introduction to the Study of Society, the first sociology textbook (placed heavy emphasis on demographic basis of society) |
| 1895 | Edwin CANNAN: "The Probability of a Cessation off the Growth of Population in England and Wales during the Next Century" Economic Journal |
| 1896 | director of 1890 census, Francis WALKER: "Restriction of Immigration," Atlantic Monthly (influx led to decline in native fertility) |
| 1897 | Karl PEARSON: The Chances of Death and Other Studies of Evolution (mortality patterns in old age) |
| 1899 | US Bureau of the Census established, replacing earlier temporary staffs |
| 1900-33 | widening the US death registration from 10 states, DC and 134 cities to the whole nation |
| 1900 | first use of sampling in national census operations, Norway |
| 1901 | Rodolfo BENINI: Principi di demografia (stimulated academic interest in Demography in Italy) |
| 1903 | Charles BOOTH: Life and Labour of the People of London "social surveys" begun in 1886 |
| 1906 | David HERON: On the relation of Fertility in Man to Social Status and on the Changes in This Relation That Have Taken Place during the Last Fifty Years (studies in 'national deterioration' - differential fertility, eugenics) |
| 1907 | Sidney WEBB: The Decline in the Birth Rate (leftist eugenics) |
| 1907 | most US immigrants in a single year (1,285,349) |
| 1907 | Karl PEARSON becomes director of the Galton Laboratory of National Eugenics at the University of London |
| 1908 | Giorgio MORTARA: La Mortalita Secondo l'eta et la Durata della Vita Economicamante Produttiva |
| 1908 | Giorgio MORTARA: Le Popolazioni della grandi città italiane (student of Benini; demographic characteristics of Italian cities) |
| 1908 | Corrado GINI: Il sesso del punto di vista statistica; le leggi della produzione dei sessi (statistical determination of sex in humans) |
| 1909 | Louis Israel DUBLIN hired by Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (pioneering work in health statistics) |
| 1909 | William ROSSITER: A Century of Population Growth (summary based on all previous censuses) |
| 1912 | Corrado GINI: Demographic Factors in the Evolution of Nations |
| 1913 | Henry Pratt FAIRCHILD: Immigration |
| 1913 | Gustav SUNDBÄRG: Emigrationsutredningen Betänkande (detailed study of migration using Swedish registration data) |
| 1913 Mar 16 | Ernst Georg RAVENSTEIN d. |
| 1915-33 | national birth registration established in US |
| 1915 | Margaret SANGER indicted for sending birth-control information through the mail |
| 1915 | Warren THOMPSON: Population: A Study in Malthusianism |
| 1916 | Margaret SANGER opens first birth-control clinic in the United States at Brooklyn, NY; imprisoned for 30 days |
| 1917 Nov 15 | Emile DURKHEIM d., Paris, France |
| 1917 | Margaret SANGER founds National birth-control League, becomes American Birth Control League in 1921, Planned Parenthood Federation of America 1920 Raymond PEARL and Lowell REED: "On the Rate of Growth of the Population of the United States since 1790 and Its Mathematical Representation," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (the "logistic" curve as populations approach an upper limit) |
| 1920 | Margaret SANGER: Woman and the New Race |
| 1921 | Margaret SANGER organized the first American birth-control conference |
| 1921 | first immigration quota system in US (3% by nationalies in 1910 census) |
| 1921 | Malthusian League established first birth-control clinic in Lond, England |
| 1922 | Foundation for Research in Population estab. by E.W. Scripps, Miami University, Oxford, OH; hires Warren THOMPSON as director, then Frank WELPTON as associate director |
| 1922 | A.M. CARR-SAUNDERS: The Population Problem |
| 1922 | E.W. Scripps founds (1st non-governmental) Foundation for Research in Population at Miami Univ, Oxford OH, Warren THOMPSON hired, then WHELPTON |
| 1924 | second immigration quota system in US (2% by nationalies in 1890 census) |
| 1924 | Franklin GIDDINGS: The Scientific Study of Human Society |
| 1925 | Robert WOODBURY: Causal Factors in Infant Mortality: A Statistical Study Based on Investigations in Eight cities (one of the first large-scale demographic field studies in the U.S.) |
| 1925 | LOTKA: Elements of Physical Biology (first major work on the mathematics of population dynamics) |
| 1925 | Margaret SANGER organized the first international birth-control conference |
| 1925 | DUBLIN & LOTKA: "On the True Rate of Natural Increase, As Exemplified by the Population of the United States, 1920" (JASA,20), first complete statement of the stable population model |
| 1925-34 | complete enumerations for 49 sovereign nations |
| 1925 | WORLD POPULATION = 2 BILLION |
| 1926 Mar 24 | Albion Woodbury SMALL d. Chicago, IL |
| 1926 | Margaret SANGER: Happiness in Marriage |
| 1927 Aug 31 | Margaret SANGER organizes first World Population Conference, Geneva, which leads to formation of the IUSSP; attended by statisticians, biologists, economists; ended Sep 2; papers included PEARL: "Biology of Population Growth," F.A.E. CREW: "Concerning Fertility and Sterility in Relation to Population," Edward EAST: "Food and Population"; SANGER's name is kept off the program |
| 1928 | Milbank Memorial Fund hires Frank NOTESTEIN, begins population studies |
| 1928 | International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) founded, Paris, Raymond PEARL first President |
| 1928 | Milbank Memorial Fund hires Frank NOTESTEIN, begins population studies |
| 1929 | Margaret SANGER formed National Committee on Federal legislation for birth-control |
| 1929 | Warren THOMPSON: "Population," American Journal of Sociology (constructs three groups of nations based on different fertility-mortality patterns; see 1945) |
| 1929 | Guy BURCH founds Population Reference Bureau, NYC |
| 1930 | Louise KENNEDY: The Negro Peasant Turns Cityward: Effects of Recent Migrations to Northern Centers (review and interpretation of black migration studies) |
| 1930 Dec 15 | Population Association of America (PAA), offshoot of the American National Committee of the IUSSP, conceived at a "preliminary conference" of 13 people, Town Hall, NYC |
| 1931 May 7 | Population Association of America officially organized, Town Hall Club in New York City, Henry Pratt FAIRCHILD first President, William Ogburn Vice-President, Alfred LOTKA secretary-treasurer; 38 attending "Second Conference" include Louis DUBLIN, Frederick OSBORNE, Warren THOMPSON; paid for by $600 grant from Milbank Memorial Fund; OSBORNE opposed naming SANGER to the Board in order to emphasize the scientific character of the PAA |
| 1931 | Louis DUBLIN named chairman of the American National Committee of the IUSSP |
| 1931 Jun 11 | Franklin GIDDINGS d., Scarsdale, NY |
| 1932 Apr 22-3 | 1st Annual Meeting of the PAA, Town Hall, NYC, 67 attending |
| 1933 | W.S. THOMPSON and P.K. WHELPTON: Population Trends in the United States |
| 1933 | William OGBURN: Recent Social Trends in the United States |
| 1933 Sep 21 | Annie BESANT d. in Madras, India |
| 1933 May 12 | 2nd Annual Meeting of the PAA, NYC, 17 attending |
| 1934 | Frank LORIMER and Frederick OSBORN: The Dynamics of Population (emphasis on eugenics) |
| 1934 May 11 | 3rd Annual Meeting of the PAA, NYC, 20 attending |
| 1934-9 | Alfred LOTKA: Théorie analytique des associations biologiques, Deuxième partie: Analyse démographique avec application particulière à l'espèce humaine (definitive exposition of his mature demographic theory by "the Newton of demography") |
| 1934 | Raymond PEARL, at a Milbank Memorial Fund symposium, presented data which led him to say "Gentlemen, you realize that this evidence destroys the basis of most of my life's work," thus signaling a shift of emphasis from biological to socio-cultural factors in demography. |
| 1935 May 2 | Frank LORIMER produces 1st issue of Population Index, until 1937 called Population Literature |
| 1935 May 2-4 | Conference on Population Studies in Relation to Social Planning, Washington DC, Eleanor Roosevelt attended |
| 1936 | Enid CHARLES: The Twilight of Parenthood |
| 1936 | Frank NOTESTEIN directs population studies from OPR through League of Nations' sponsorship |
| 1936 | A. M. CARR-SAUNDERS: World population: Past Growth and Present Trends |
| 1937 | large, successful International Population Conference, Paris |
| 1939 | Raymond PEARL: The Natural History of Population |
| 1940 | number of births in US begins to rise - beginning of the "baby boom" (see 1957, 1961) |
| 1940 | first sampling design in the decennial US census, evolved into the Current Population Survey |
| 1940 Nov 17 | Raymond PEARL d., Hershey, PA |
| 1944 Feb 7 | Robert Ezra PARK d., Nashville, TN |
| 1945-54 | complete enumerations for 65 sovereign nations |
| 1945 | Ernest BURGESS: Predicting Success or Failure in Marriage (w/ L Cottrell, Jr.) |
| 1945 | Institut National d'Êtudes Démographiques established |
| 1945 | Charter of the United Nations includes provision fora Commission on Population |
| 1945 | Frank NOTESTEIN: "Population ‹ the Long View," Food for the World ed. T.W. Schultz (see Thompson 1929; middle group named "group in transition" - hence, "demographic transition" theory) |
| 1945 | Kingsley DAVIS: "The world demographic transition," Annals of the Amer Acad of Pol and Soc Sci |
| 1945 Sep ff. | Population Reference Bureau begins publication of Population Bulletin (first issue, 8 pages, on the labor market in the postwar world) |
| 1947 ff. | Population Studies (Population Investigation Committee, London School of Economics) |
| 1948 ff. | United Nations: Demographic Yearbook |
| 1949 | Alfred J. LOTKA d. |
| 1949 | George ZIPF: Human behavior and the principle of least effort; an introduction to human ecology (empirical regularities in distribution and migration) |
| 1950 | Census of the Americas |
| 1950 | James A. QUINN: Human Ecology |
| 1950 | Amos HAWLEY: Human ecology; a theory of community structure |
| 1952 | International Planned Parenthood Federation founded |
| 1953-4 | census of China |
| 1954 | Amos HAWLEY: Papers in demography and public administration |
| 1954 | United Nations World Population Conference, Rome |
| 1955 1960 | Growth of American Families (fertility survey, Rockefeller Foundation) |
| 1956 | Henry Pratt FAIRCHILD d., USA |
| 1957 | peak year of US "baby boom" |
| 1957 | Princeton Fertility Survey (with reinterviews in 1960 and 1963-1967) |
| 1958 | Ansley COALE and Edgar HOOVER: Population Growth and Economic Development in Low Income Countries |
| 1959 | WORLD POPULATION = 3 BILLION |
| 1960 May 9 | US Food and Drug Administration approves marketing "the pill" for birth-control |
| 1961 | beginning of steep decline from US "baby boom" (see 1940, 1957) |
| 1962 | V.C. WYNNE-EDWARDS: Animal Dispersion in Relation to Social Behaviour (social control of animal populations) |
| 1963 ff. | Studies in Family Planning |
| 1964 ff. | Demography (Population Association of America; Donald BOGUE, 1st editor) |
| 1965 | Ralph THOMLINSON: Population Dynamics |
| 1965 1970 1975 | National Fertility Surveys (NICHD) |
| 1965 Mar 13 | Corrado GINI d., Rome, Italy |
| 1966 Dec 27 | Ernest Watson BURGESS d. Chicago, IL |
| 1966 Sep 6 | Margaret SANGER d., Tucson AZ |
| 1966 Oct 6 | Alexander Morris CARR-SAUNDERS d., Thirmere, Cumberland, England |
| 1966 | Ansley COALE and Paul DEMENY: Regional Model Life Tables and Stable Populations |
| 1968 | Garrett HARDIN, "The Tragedy of the Commons" (Science) |
| 1968 | Paul EHRLICH: The Population Bomb (prelude to popular concern over global population growth) |
| 1969 ff. | Family Planning Perspectives (Alan Guttmacher Institute, NY) |
| 1969 | Donald S. BOGUE: Principles of Demography |
| 1969 Mar | Louis Israel DUBLIN, d., Winter Park, Orange, FL |
| 1971 | Henry S. SHRYOCK and Jacob S. SIEGEL: The Methods and Materials of Demography (2 vols) |
| 1972 | MEADOWS et al.: The Limits to Growth: A Report for the Club of Rome's Project on the Predicament of Mankind |
| 1972 | Ansley COALE: The Growth and Structure of Human Populations: A Mathematical Investigation |
| 1973 | National Survey of Family Growth (National Center for Health Statistics; cycle II, 1976; III 1982, IV 1988) |
| 1974 | WORLD POPULATION = 4 BILLION |
| 1975 ff. | Population and Development Review (Population Council) |
| 1975 ff. | International Family Planning Digest - evolved into International Family Planning Perspectives and Digest 1978 and International Family Planning Perspectives 1979 |
| 1977 | Nathan KEYFITZ: Applied Mathematical Demography |
| 1978 | Richard EASTERLIN: "What will 1984 be like? The socioeconomic implications of recent twists in age structure" Demography |
| 1982 | G. Edward STEPHAN and Douglas MASSEY: "The undergraduate curriculum in Sociology: an immodest proposal," Teaching Sociology (argues that Demography should be the introductory course for sociology majors) |
| 1984 | Samuel PRESTON: "Children and the Elderly: Divergent Paths for America's Dependents," Demography (policy implications of foreseeable demographic shifts) |
| 1985 | Roland PRESSAT: The Dictionary of Demography [French, 1979] |
| 1986 | WORLD POPULATION = 5 BILLION |
| 1993 | Douglas MASSEY and Nancy DENTON: American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass (historical relationship of residential segregation and cultural separation, based primarily on urban-level census data) |
| 1994 Sep 5-13 | International Conference on Population and Development, Cairo |
| 2000 | WORLD POPULATION = 6 BILLION |