This book has been written with the belief that demography has a key role to play in meeting national level challenges arising out of rapid rise in India's population. An attempt has been made to strike a balance between theory and research findings. The book deals with the most recent developments in demographic theory. The book aims to provide a systematic introduction to demography for advanced level students as well as teachers of demography. This is a comprehensive and most up-to-date book on Indian demography. Though the book is specially related to India, an effort has been made to make use of the available knowledge to give a global perspective relating to demographic issues. The last two chapters are fully dedicated to the measures and techniques of demographic analysis and glossary of technical terms commonly used in demography for those who want to delve deeper into demography. CONTENTS 1 Sources of Demographic Data 2 Theories of Population Growth 3 An Outline of World Population 4 Size, Growth and Distribution of Population in India 5 Composition and Characteristics of Population 6 Nuptiality and Family Life Cycle 7 Reproductive Behaviour: Concepts, Theories and Measures 8 Reproductive Behaviour of Indian Population 9 Mortality and Morbidity 10 Migration 11 Urbanization and Urban Growth 12 Population Growth and Economic Development 13 Population and Sustainable Development 14 Programmes and Policies of Population Stabilization 15 Measures and Techniques of Demographic Analysis ABOUT THE AUTHOR / EDITOR J.P. Singh an author and lexicographer, holds PhD in Demography from the Australian National University, Canberra. He had advance training in population and economics at the ISS, Hague (the Netherlands) and attended Summer Training Programme at the Institute of Population, East-West Center of University of Hawaii (USA). He has worked as Professor of Sociology, Additional Director of Population Research Center (sponsored by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India) and Pro Vice-Chancellor of Patna University, Patna. He has also worked as Director (Higher Education) and Director-cum-Chairman, Bihar Hindi Granth Academy, Government of Bihar. He has published more than 100 research papers and book reviews in professional journals from India and abroad. He also has to his credit 30 books in the field of demography, anthropology and sociology.