The influence of demographic changes on the development of the electorate

Abstract

In demographic terms, a population can be defined as a collectivity of individuals “that persists through time even though its members are continuously changing through attrition and accession“. Attrition, the process of leaving a population, is only possible via death or emigration. Accession, the process of joining a population, is possible via birth or immigration (Figure 10). If one considers the population of a country, cases of immigration and emigration only contribute to population change if they cross its external borders, i.e. if they are cases of international migration. Migration which takes place within the borders of a country – so called internal migration – may change the population size of different regions, but does not have an effect on total population size.