UC Berkeley has long been recognized as the center for formal demography.  Excellence in modeling, data structure and application to population processes makes up the core of this strength.  Data collection, along with the data resources of the Survey Research Center, is something we do for research internally, but also for the global community of population investigators.  Data are made available with unique website tools.  Further, inquiries are not just current, but also historical, because understanding the past enables a better understanding of the present. And far from being only a data-driven exercise, research by BPC affiliates also excels in theory. 

Accordingly, we have defined four approaches to population studies in relation to our four themes. They approaches are:

• Population theory
• Innovative methods
• Historical demography
• Data collection/dissemination