Population Geography: Trajectory of a Subfield of Geography
The aim of this article is to describe the various trajectories of population geography since the 1950s. More specifically, it proposes a theoretical, methodological and thematic synthesis of this sub-discipline, focussing on the research conducted by geographers in Quebec. We begin our study of population geography within the boundaries imposed by national fields of geography as well as the reasons why it has been restricted solely to a positivistic approach. In the next section, we synthesize the research on the following components of demography; namely, fertility, mortality and migration. In our synthesis, we will see that research is characterized by a marked preoccupation with both statistical and cartographical measurement and analysis. On account of the space devoted to the theme of migration, we focus our attention specifically on this component, as it has easily been the most popular field of research among human geographers since the beginning. In conclusion, we present a list of topics that will dominate the 21st century given the changes that population geography is expected to introduce in order to guarantee its existence and durability.