Overview

The population submodel of IFs uses the cohort component analysis approach of many population models, including the studies done by the United Nations (United Nations, 1956 and 1977). The structure of the IFs population model drew initially on the World Integrated Model (WIM) or the second generation Mesarovic-Pestel Model (Hughes, 1980), but has changed much over time.

The approach relies upon age, fertility, and mortality distributions for each country/region with 22 cohorts - one for infants, 20 of 5-year size, and one for all individuals of age 100 or older. A major advantage of 5-year cohorts is that data sources generally present demographic data in that form. Ideally, however, the cohort size should correspond to the model time step so as to avoid "numerical diffusion," the propagation of change from a five-year cohort to an adjoining cohort in a single year. To prevent such numerical diffusion, IFs actually runs an age distribution with 100 single-year cohorts and advances that over time, collapsing to 22 cohorts only for the calculations of births and deaths.

For help understanding the equations see Equation Notation.

• Age Distribution
• Fertility
• Mortality: Life Expectancy and Infant Mortality
• Mortality: The Legacy Formulation
• Malnutrition: The Legacy Formulation
• HIV/AIDS Mortality: The Legacy Formulation
• Migration
• Urbanization
• Household Size
• Demographic Indicators
• Data Used