Introduction

Abstract

In countries with well-developed data reporting systems, demographic estimation is based on data collected by censuses and vital registration systems. In countries with inadequate or inaccurate data reporting systems, demographic estimation must rely on methods that are more “indirect.” Such estimation techniques usually adopt model schedules—parameterized functions describing collections of age-specific rates that are based on patterns observed in populations other than the one being studied—selecting one of them on the basis of some incomplete data on the observed population. The justification for such an approach is that age profiles of observed schedules of rates vary within predetermined limits for most human populations. Rates for one age group are highly correlated with those of other age groups, and expressions of such interrelationships form the basis of model schedule construction. Show more