Graduate Minor in Population Studies

What is Population Studies?

Population Studies is a multidisciplinary research area at the intersection of the mathematical sciences, the health and social sciences, and public policy. Traditionally, the field has been associated with demography, which is concerned with changes in population size, distribution, and structure due to births, deaths, and migration. In recent decades, the scope of population research has greatly expanded to include such topics as fertility and family planning; morbidity and access to health care; demographic transitions; mortality; mobility, migration, and immigration; household and family composition; the life course; schooling; poverty and economic welfare; the aged; minorities; economic development; labor markets and labor force composition; social stratification; urbanization; and population growth, density, and distribution.

The Population Studies minor

Established in 2003, the University of Minnesota’s graduate minor in Population Studies provides solid grounding in the theories and methods of demography, with additional specialized training in five interdisciplinary subject areas that are particularly well developed at Minnesota: historical demography, population geography, economic demography, public health demography, and family and life course demography. The minor is administered by the Department of Sociology, in consultation with the Minnesota Population Center and is available at the master's and doctoral level.  For full information, see the Graduate Student Handbook.

What can I do with a minor in Population Studies?

Training and certification in Population Studies is applicable in many areas. A wide variety of organizations need researchers and professionals with Population Studies skills: governmental agencies that oversee health issues, welfare and human resources, urban planning, population planning, and the census; non-governmental organizations concerned with public policy in planning, population, and health issues; private companies seeking skilled researchers who understand demographics for marketing purposes; and universities and colleges eager to hire new faculty who can use demography and population studies in their teaching and research. The Minnesota Population Center serves as a University-wide interdisciplinary cooperative for demographic research. Other research centers at the University that engage in population studies research include the State Health Access Data Assistance Center and the Life Course Center.