Population statistics] as of July 1, 1997

In thousands, Thailand's total population as of July 1, 1997, was 60,440, of which 30,202 were male and 30,238 were female. 19,087 live in urban areas and 41,353 live in rural areas. 12,141 live in the northern region, 19,678 to the northeast, 7566 in the South, 13,112 centrally, and 7943 in the Bangkok metropolis. 16,288 were under age 15, 39,073 aged 15-59, and 5079 aged 60 and over. There were 15,558 women of reproductive ages 15-44. Crude birth and death rates per 1000 population were 15.6 and 5.0, respectively, with an overall natural growth rate of 1.1%. Infant mortality was 25.0 per 1000 live births. Male and female life expectancies at birth were 66.6 and 71.7 years, respectively. Further life expectancies at age 60 for males and females were 18.8 and 22.0 years, respectively. The rate of total fertility per woman was 1.98 with a contraceptive prevalence rate of 72.2% and an anticipated population of 70,642 in the year 2012.     

Making borders stick: population transfer and resettlement in the Trans-Curzon territories, 1944-1949

"Designed in 1919-20 by the British mediator Lord Curzon as an armistice proposal between the then warring powers Poland and Soviet Russia, the Curzon Line served to identify the maximum territorial reach of Soviet political influence in Europe....[The author discusses] a program of resettlement which would target communities on both sides of the new border, a policy eventually affecting some 1.4 million individuals...." The implementation and impact of this population exchange are described.     

Prevalence of gambling among Minnesota public school students in 1992 and 1995

The purposes of this study were to examine the prevalence of gambling among youth, compare rates of gambling between 1992 and 1995, and determine what levels of gambling frequency may be considered common and uncommon. The two samples included 122,700 Minnesota public school students in the 6th, 9th, and 12th grades in 1992; and 75,900 9th and 12th grade students in 1995. Students were administered the Minnesota Student Survey, a 126-item, anonymous, self-administered, paper-and-pencil questionnaire that inquires about multiple content domains, including gambling behaviors. The same questionnaire, with minor revisions to the gambling items, was administered in both 1992 and 1995 to students in their classrooms by the Minnesota Department of Education. There were slight decreases in overall gambling rates from 1992 to 1995. The majority of students gambled at least once during the past year. However, most did not play any game on a weekly/daily rate and did not report any problems associated with their gambling. Gender, grade, and race effects were found for gambling frequency. Boys gambled more often than girls, and 9th and 12th grade students gambled more often than 6th grade students. Asian American and White students reported lower rates of gambling frequency than Mexican/Latin American, African American, and American Indian students. From a statistical standpoint (i.e., beyond the 97.7 percentile), it may be considered in the uncommon range for girls to play two or more games at a weekly/daily rate, and for boys to play four or more games at a weekly/daily rate. Variables associated with gambling frequency included antisocial behavior, gender, and alcohol use frequency. Although the finding that gambling did not increase from 1992 to 1995 is encouraging, this is the first generation of youth to be exposed to widespread accessability to gambling venues and gambling advertising and it will be important to continue monitoring the prevalence of youth gambling.     

Marriage selection and age patterns of mortality: a mathematical investigation

"In this paper, we use simulation models to demonstrate the complexity of the relationship between the marriage selection process and the resulting RMRs [relative mortality ratios]. In particular, we show that marriage selection alone can produce a relative mortality ratio which remains large and relatively constant at ages far beyond the marriage span....Our general objective...is to determine the range of age patterns of relative mortality which could, in theory, result from marriage selection on the basis of health characteristics. We also evaluate the effects of variations in the marriage selection mechanisms on the resulting mortality patterns....We develop and apply several simple mathematical models of the marriage selection process. In order to distinguish the potential consequences of marriage selection from marriage protection, we consider hypothetical populations in which causal effects are absent....We begin by considering an extremely simple marriage selection process and subsequently explore a more realistic selection model based on recent death and marriage rates for Japan."     

Comparing measures of poverty and relative deprivation: an example for Belgium

This paper presents three different poverty standards. A first approach takes the disposable income as an indicator of poverty. A second approach uses the Leyden approach. Finally an aggregate index of deprivation, based on the observation of consumption events, is constructed through a particular econometric procedure proposed by Desai and Shah (1988). These alternative measures are then compared on a sample composed of 6380 Belgian households. Such an analysis can be expected to provide some further insight into the problem of measuring poverty, which has been the subject of a recent controversial debate.We thank the participants of the Second Annual Meeting of the European Society for Population Economics, June 23–25, 1988, Mannheim (FRG), L. Gevers, J. Lindsey, P. Pestieau, B. Sak, K. Van den Bosch and two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions.     

What will future historians say about the Clinton health reform act

In a series of articles that began in the March-April 1992 issue of Physician Executive, the author has provided historical background on the debate that currently rages on the nature and course of national health reform. In addition to tracing past efforts to expand access to health care for Americans, Dr. Goldfield has provided unique insights into the American political process and into the American psyche. In this final article in the series, Dr. Goldfield provides his personal assessment of what the chances for real reform of the health care delivery system are and his views on what that reform will ultimately look like. He calls himself a skeptic, not a cynic, saying that the likelihood of meaningful change is small, given the numerous proponents of the status quo.     

Chinese Communist Party Central Committee calls on Party and Youth League members to take the lead in having only one child (per couple), [open letter,September 25, 1980

This open letter from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party concerns the question of controlling China's population growth. To limit the total population of China to 1.2 billion by the end of this century, the State Council has advocated 1 couple giving birth to only 1 child. China's total population will reach 1.3 billion after 20 years and will exceed 1.5 billion after 40 years. Besides the family needing to increase the cost of upbringing, increasing population also requires the state, in order to solve their education, employment, and otheer problem, to raise education expenditures, investments of equipment, and outlays for social and public utilities. The phenomenon of population "aging" will not occur within this century because at present 1/2 of the total national population is below the age of 21, while elderly people above age 65 consist of less than 5%. After 40 years of the practice of 1 child per couple, some families may experience the problem where the elderly lack people to care for them. In the future when production is developed and the people's lives are improved, social welfare and social security will certainly increase and improve continuously. To control population growth, the Party and government have already adopted a series of concrete policies; considerations and allowances are to be given to single children and their families with respect to admission to childcare centers and primar schools. Young comrades must begin with themselves, while old comrades must educate and supervise their own sons and daughters.