Discover the dynamics of the population

In this section, we invite you to discover the factors that cause populations to change and to compare populations with each other or over time.

What will you learn in this topic?

Has the number of inhabitants in your municipality always been the same? What are the factors that influence the number of inhabitants? What are the most popular first names?

How has the number of inhabitants in your municipality evolved over time?

The population of a municipality evolves over time.

Does the number of inhabitants in your municipality increase, decrease or does it remain the same over the years?

Compare the evolution of the population in your municipality with that in another municipality.

Have fun comparing the evolution curve of the population in your municipality with that of another municipality.
Are the populations in these two municipalities evolving in the same way?

Choose another geographical area to compare:

What is the natural balance in your municipality?

The size of a population in a given geographical area is influenced by the number of births, but also by the number of deaths. Births will have a positive impact on the population size, while deaths will have a negative impact.

Discover the natural balance of your municipality

Evolution of the number of births and deaths

The natural balance of the population evolves over time.

The number of births and deaths are never the same from one year to the other: in some years, there are more births than deaths, or vice versa.

Compare the evolution of the number of births and deaths with that of another geographical area.

Does the natural balance evolve in the same way in the two geographical areas?  The number of births and deaths are never the same from one year to the other and can vary from one municipality to another.

Choose another geographical area to compare:

What is the migration balance in your municipality?

The size of the population in a given geographical area is influenced by the number of people who come to live there (moving in) and by the number of people who leave to live somewhere else (moving out).

People moving in will have a positive impact on the population size, while people moving out will have a negative impact.

You have probably heard of immigrants and emigrants.

An immigrant is a person arriving in a geographical area to settle there: that person is moving in.

An emigrant is a person leaving a geographical area to settle somewhere else: that person is moving out.

The difference between the number of immigrants and emigrants in a given reference period (often a year) is what we call the “migration balance”.

Discover the migration balance in your municipality

Evolution of the number of immigrants and emigrants

The migration balance of the population evolves over time.

The number of immigrants and emigrants are never the same from one year to the other: in some years, there are more immigrants than emigrants, or vice versa.

Compare the evolution of the number of immigrants and emigrants in your municipality with that of another municipality

Does the migration balance evolve in the same way in the two municipalities?

The number of immigrants and emigrants are never the same from one year to the other and can vary from one municipality to another.

Choose another geographical area to compare:

Demographic decline, growth and stagnation, what does that mean?

Births and immigrants (people moving in) increase the size of the population.

Deaths and emigrants (people moving out) decrease the size of the population.

If we compare both quantities, we can know whether the size of a population increases, decreases or remains stable.

Births + Immigrants > Deaths + Emigrants: Population growth.

Births + Immigrants = Deaths + Emigrants: Demographic stagnation.

Births + Immigrants < Deaths + Emigrants: Demographic decline.

Does the population in your municipality experience a demographic decline, growth or stagnation?

To know if residents have been added to or disappeared from the population between two dates, you need to:

  1. Add the number of births and the number of immigrants to obtain the first term
  2. Add the number of deaths and the number of emigrants to obtain the second term
  3. Calculate the difference between the term obtained in 1° and the term obtained in 2°

Which first names were most commonly given in your municipality during the reference period?

The (absolute) frequency is the number of times the first name was given during the reference period in a given geographical area.

The mode is the first name with the highest frequency. This is the first name that is number 1 in the ranking.

Compare the top 10 first names in your municipality with that of another municipality.

The frequency of first names given at birth can be very different from one municipality to another.

Compare the tables. What are the modes of the various distributions? In your opinion, what are the factors that could explain these differences?

Do you find this website instructive?

Want to test your knowledge about the topic Population evolution?

Or read the next topic 'Nationalities'

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