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October 2003 A New Encyclopedia on Population Encyclopedia of Population The Encyclopedia of Population is the first comprehensive appraisal of the field of population studies in many decades. Edited by the Council’s Distinguished Scholar, Paul Demeny, and Policy Research Division senior associate Geoffrey McNicoll, the Encyclopedia is a testament to the broad scope and diversity of the population sciences. The nearly 300 contributors to the Encyclopedia represent a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds in the social, biological, and environmental sciences. “In addition to its reference function, a test of such a work,” according to Demeny and McNicoll, “is the extent to which it repays browsing and offers the reader serendipitous discoveries and insights.” Thus the authors seek to make population issues and information accessible—and interesting—to a wide audience, including professionals, government and program managers, college students, and the educated lay reader. Population issues often have been defined narrowly, with an emphasis on rapid population growth and family planning. The Encyclopedia gives full coverage to such matters, but the editors have painted on a much broader canvas to include such issues as the diversification of family forms, new medical technologies affecting reproduction and longevity, new or resurgent infectious diseases, the movement for women's equality and reproductive rights, population-related environmental change, and the evolutionary bases of demographic behavior. Important ethical debates related to population are also treated—longstanding issues such as asylum-seeking and equity between generations, and emerging issues such as genetic engineering and animal rights. See Also | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
