Toward a reappraisal of social indicators for housing in developing nations

The need for social indicators to monitor and evaluate progress in the achievement of certain predetermined goals is now very evident. However, the design and construction of these indiactors still leave much to be desired. This paper analyzes the application of social indicators for housing in the context of the developing nations. The problem of changing standards of acceptable housing over time and the different images and needs of the diverse inhabitants bring the validity of present indicators for housing into question and at least, point out the need for talking social and cultural variables into consideration.     

Fertility decline in Germany: An econometric appraisal

Summary A re-analysis of Knodel's data provides some new results for the fertility decline in Germany and a new approach to testing hypotheses about the demographic transition. Two formulations of transition theory are compared: one emphasizing the importance of changing social and economic structure for fertility decline; the other, the changing relationships between fertility and its determinants over time. To evaluate these formulations, multivariate time series cross-sectional models are developed. The statistical models permit the estimation of relationships both cross-sectionally and over time. As a consequence, the ability of the independent variables to explain cross-sectional as against temporal differences is evaluated. Industrialization, urbanization, religious composition, migration, infant mortality and marriage patterns satisfactorily explain the fertility decline once regional differences have been taken into account. Persisting characteristics of regional units account for much of the unexplained variance. Industrialization is the main explanatory variable of fertility decline in Germany. In the period considered, its impact on fertility increased substantially.     

Time series of growth in use of oral contraception and the differential diffusion of oral anovulents

Abstract Differential growth in the use of oral anovulents is explored through construction of separate time series for Canadian women classified by religion, education, and nativity. The series suggest that native-born Roman Catholic women are as likely as native-born Protestant women to be using oral contraceptives by the terminal point of our series in 1967. The period of very rapid growth in the use of orals appears to have come to an end. Differential patterns of diffusion of oral contraception shown by the categories of women discussed, suggest sources of bias in the profile of an aggregate time series.     

Reflections on the demographic conditions needed to establish a U.S. stationary population growth

Abstract It is assumed that in the long run U.S. population growth will have to cease, as otherwise life will become physically impossible. Various hypothetical possibilities of achieving such a type of development are investigated. Alternatives of reproduction rate trends are considered in terms of alternatives of interactions of assumed age-specific fertility and mortality trends and these are computed and evaluated. The various computations then indicate the nature of childbearing attitudes and behaviour, which the 'average population' would have to adopt in order to achieve the desired stationary population growth after a certain period of time. On the other hand the results presented in the paper also indicate that a certain population growth (of the order of 30-50%) and change in age structure is inevitable in the coming 5-10 decades given the initial childbearing behaviour.     

SMPD Scenarios of Spatial Distribution of Human Population in China

Three scenarios of spatial distribution of human population in China are developed in the years 2010 and 2020, respectively by means of the method of surface modeling of population distribution (SMPD). Each one of the SMPD scenarios is defined as a plausible alternative future under particular assumptions of elevation, water system, net primary productivity (NPP), urbanization, transport infrastructure development, and population growth. The SMPD scenarios show that if population could freely migrate within the whole China, the balanced ratios of population in the western region, the middle region and the eastern region to total population in the whole China would be 16%, 33% and 52%, respectively.     

Immigrant quality and assimilation: a review of the U.S. literature

Empirical research on US immigrants is reviewed: their productivity and assimilation; their contribution and use of public services; and their impact on native Americans. I discuss the characteristics of cohorts of immigrants that enter the United States at different times, and then quantify the assimilation of immigrants, typically in terms of economic productivity of immigrants compared with natives. Few have found quantifiable negative effects of immigrants on native wages or unemployment in local labor markets, but a more general equilibrium approach than has been empirically implemented may be needed to draw any conclusions regarding the distributional consequences of immigration. Received: 22 September 1995 / Accepted: 2 March 1997     

A double epidemic: crystal methamphetamine drug use in relation to HIV transmission among gay men

Emerging research on methamphetamine use among gay men suggests that growth in the use of this drug could present serious problems for HIV/AIDS prevention within the gay community. This article summarizes current studies on the extent, role, and context of methamphetamine use among gay men and its relationship to high risk sexual behaviors related to HIV transmission. Methamphetamine is often used by gay men to initiate, enhance, and prolong sexual encounters. Use of the drug is, therefore, associated with particular environments where sexual contact among gay men is promoted, such as sex clubs and large "circuit" parties. Research with gay and bisexual men indicates that methamphetamine use is strongly associated with risky sexual behaviors that may transmit HIV. This relationship, coupled with emerging evidence that methamphetamine use is on the rise among gay men, suggests that the drug could exacerbate the HIV/AIDS epidemic among this community. The article offers recommendations for further research and suggestions for prevention programs regarding methamphetamine use by gay men.     

Smallpox in nineteenth-century India

This study uses the large, but neglected, body of Indian historical demographic and health data to show that smallpox was a major killer in past times. At the start of the nineteenth century roughly 80 percent of India's population had no effective protection against the disease, and in these circumstances virtually everyone suffered from it in childhood. The main exception was Bengal, where the indigenous practice of inoculation greatly limited the prevalence of the disease. Smallpox case fatality in India was high—around 25–30 percent in unprotected populations—and significantly higher than estimated for unprotected populations in eighteenth-century Europe. Although vaccination reached India in 1802, the practice spread slowly during the first half of the nineteenth century. From the 1870s onward there were considerable improvements in vaccination coverage. The study demonstrates a close link between the spread of vaccination and the decline of smallpox. Whereas at the start of the nineteenth century the disease may have accounted for more than 10 percent of all deaths in India, by the end of the century smallpox had become a comparatively minor cause of death as a result of improved vaccination coverage.