Course description: 
With this course is intended to frame the role of demography in the social sciences, using the main instruments for collecting and processing data on the population, analyze and understand the demographic situation in Portugal and worldwide.
The study of Demography is part of a broader context - the social sciences - considered an autonomous science, different from sociology or economics and requires a clarification of key concepts. However, we know that we can’t draw boundaries between the various social sciences. Demography appears as a scientific answer to a set of questions related to the description of the human population. Furthermore, demography study aspects related to the spatial planning of the population, family structures changes, the consequences of demographic aging on social security systems, the composition of the workforce and the needs and location of social facilities.
Like any social phenomenon, the study of demography is of great complexity, associated with multiple social phenomena ranging from health to politics, culture, economic aspects or education. Demography as a science whose object of study is the human population, takes therefore a key role in the social sciences.