| A | B |
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| Age distribution | The proportion of individuals of different ages within a population. |
| Agricultural density | The ratio of the number of farmers to the total amount of land suitable for agriculture. |
| Agricultural Revolution | The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals an no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering. |
| Arithmetic density | The total number of people divided by the total land area. |
| Carrying capacity | Maximum number of people an area can reasonably sustain. |
| Census | A complete enumeration of a population. |
| Cohort | A particular group of people that share a common characteristic, usually age. |
| Crude birth rate (CBR) | The total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society. |
| Crude death rate (CDR) | The total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society. |
| Demographic equation | CBR-CDR = NIR; used for evaluating population change on global and subglobal levels; at the global level, CBR and CDR are the only two factors of change; at the subglobal level, immigration and emigration are taken into account. |
| Demographic momentum | Phenomenon of a growing population size even after replacement-level fertility has been reached; occurs when the base of the population pyramid is so wide that the generation of parents will take time to cycle out before zero population growth occurs. |
| Demographic regions | Areas grouped together by the stage of the demographic transition model that most countries in the area are in. |
| Demographic transition | The process of change in a society's population from a condition of high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and higher total population. |
| Demography | The scientific study of population characteristics. |
| Dependency ratio | The number of people under age 15 and over age 64 compared to the number of people active in the labor force. |
| Diffusion of fertility control | The rate at which family planning methods are distributed throughout the world. |
| Doubling time | The number of years needed for a population to be twice its size, assuming a constant rate of natural increase. |
| Ecumene | The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement. |
| Epidemiological transition | Distinctive causes of death in each stage of the demographic transition. |
| Epidemiology | The branch of medical science concerned with the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases that are prevalent among a population at a special time and are produced by some special causes not generally present in the affected locality. |
| Gendered space | Place designed for or claimed by men or women. |
| Industrial Revolution | A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods. |
| Infant mortality rate (IMR) | The total number of deaths in a year among infants under one year of age for every 1,000 live births in a society. |
| J-curve | The shape of a line on a population graph when growth is exponential. |
| Life expectancy | The average number of years an individual can be expected to live, given current social, economic, and medical conditions. |
| Maladaptation | An adaption that does more harm than good. |
| Malthus, Thomas | British demographer who wrote An Essay on the Principles of Population, alarming those living at the time during the Industrial Revolution; he predicted food production would outpace population growth rates; warned of negative checks, such as famine, and called for positive checks, such as birth control. |
| Medical revolution | Medical technology invented in Europe and North America that has diffused to the poorer countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, that have eliminated many of the traditional causes of death in poorer countries and enabled more people to live longer and healthier lives. |
| Mortality | Death-related activity in a population; related to crude death rate. |
| Natality | Birth-related activity in a population; related to crude birth rate. |
| Natural increase rate (NIR) | The percentage growth of a population in a year, computed as the crude birth rate minus the crude death rate. |
| Neo-Malthusian | Contemporary believers in the idea of population checks, such as disease; promote sustainable population growth to be achieved through birth control teachings and regional attention to birth patterns. |
| Overpopulation | A situation in which the number of people in an area exceeds the capacity of the environment to support life at a decent standard of living. |
| Pandemic | Disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects a very high proportion of the population. |
| Physiological density | The number of people per unit of area of arable land, which is land suitable for agriculture. |
| Population density | Measurement of the number of people per given unit of land. |
| Population distribution | Description of locations on the earth's surface where populations live. |
| Population explosion | Rapid growth of the world's human population during the past century, attended by ever-shorter doubling times and accelerating rates of natural increase. |
| Population projection | Estimated population at a certain time in the future. |
| Population pyramid | A bar graph representing the distribution of population by age and sex. |
| S-curve | Traces the cyclical movement upwards and downwards in a graph; relates to growth and decline in the natural increase. |
| Sex ratio | The number of males per 100 females in the population. |
| Standard of living | Refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people and the way they are distributed within a population. |
| Total fertility rate (TFR) | The average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years. |
| Underpopulation | Occurs when a population size is below its carrying capacity and cannot sustain the economic development it has reached; measure that is difficult to pinpoint |
| Zero population growth (ZPG) | A decline of the total fertility rate to the point where the natural increase rate equals zero. |
