Official statistics · October 2025 · Vol. 1 No. 1

The overlooked science of understanding the world: demography

What population data can explain that other tools cannot

Author

Luca Di Gennaro Splendore

University of Malta

In brief

Can demography explain China's growth and its recent slowdown? The struggles of African economies? The politics of the Middle East? Numerous socio-economic phenomena can be analysed and predicted through demographic study, yet the array of tools most commentators reach for rarely incorporates this perspective.

“Demography is a powerful, yet often underappreciated, tool for predicting future global challenges.”

What the article covers

  • The first demographic transition, and why large families can strain a country's socio-economic conditions.
  • China's one-child policy: a transition compressed from a century into thirty years.
  • The second demographic transition, and why Canada and Luxembourg court immigration.
  • Census methodology, and the role of population growth in the Solow model.

Read the article

Pages 23–24 of Vol. 1 No. 1, October 2025. Free to read, no registration.

Open at page 23

How to cite

Luca Di Gennaro Splendore. “The overlooked science of understanding the world: demography.” vISIon: The ISI Magazine Vol. 1 No. 1, October 2025, pp. 23–24.