Demography is the scientific study of human populations. Classical demography has at its core three processes: fertility, migration, and mortality. To be human is to be part of the demographic process, so contemporary studies of population focus not only on the implications of population size and change, but also on how social influences affect individual behaviour and how actions at the individual level contribute to the composition of the population.

Globally, population issues are of increasing concern to governments and other policy-makers. Particularly over the last fifty years or so, there have been many iterations of the population ‘problem’. From overpopulation to population ageing, to ultra-low fertility, this new four-volume collection from Routledge brings together the most important thinking about, and theories on, population to enable users to make sense of a vast—and rapidly expanding—corpus of scholarship.

With a full index, together with a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editors, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context, Population Studies is an essential work of reference. For researchers, students, and policy-makers, it is as a vital one-stop research and pedagogic resource.