Clustering of the Demographic Regimes of Europe at the National Level: A Methodological Assessment
The scope of this paper is to apply the method of hierarchical cluster analysis to demographic data and discuss the problems of such an approach. Several demographic variables for population change, population structure, fertility and mortality were used to cluster European populations and identify homogenous spatial areas or resemblances among them. Subsequently, these variables were examined to account for the problem of multicollinearity, which affects the cluster analysis results. Several methods were used to solve this problem. Results indicate the validity of cluster analysis for such purposes and its enhanced interpretational power.
Population Review
Volume 60, Number 1, 2021
Type: Article, pp. 26-51
Clustering of the Demographic Regimes of Europe at the National Level: A Methodological Assessment
Authors: Konstantinos N. Zafeiris and Aspasia Tsoni
Affiliations: Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace (Zafeiris); Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace (Tsoni)
Corresponding author/address: Konstantinos. N. Zafeiris, Associate Professor of Demography, Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Department of History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace, P. Tsaldari 1, 69132-Komotini, Greece; e-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
The scope of this paper is to apply the method of hierarchical cluster analysis to demographic data and discuss the problems of such an approach. Several demographic variables for population change, population structure, fertility and mortality were used to cluster European populations and identify homogenous spatial areas or resemblances among them. Subsequently, these variables were examined to account for the problem of multicollinearity, which affects the cluster analysis results. Several methods were used to solve this problem. Results indicate the validity of cluster analysis for such purposes and its enhanced interpretational power.
Keywords
Europe, demographic characteristics, PCA, Mahalanobis distance, cluster analysis
Note: Both authors declare no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval: This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any authors.
© 2021 Sociological Demography Press
MLA
Zafeiris, Konstantinos N. and Aspasia Tsoni. “Clustering of the Demographic Regimes of Europe at the National Level: A Methodological Assessment.” Population Review, vol. 60 no. 1, 2021. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/783340.
APA
Zafeiris, K.N., & Tsoni, A. (2021). Clustering of the Demographic Regimes of Europe at the National Level: A Methodological Assessment. Population Review 60(1), https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/783340.
Chicago
Zafeiris, Konstantinos N., and Aspasia Tsoni. “Clustering of the Demographic Regimes of Europe at the National Level: A Methodological Assessment.” Population Review 60, no. 1 (2021) muse.jhu.edu/article/783340.
Endnote
TY – JOUR T1 – Clustering of the Demographic Regimes of Europe at the National Level: A Methodological Assessment A1 – Zafeiris, Konstantinos N. A1 – Tsoni, Aspasia JF – Population Review VL – 60 IS – 1 PY – 2021 PB – Sociological Demography Press SN – 1549-0955 UR – https://muse.jhu.edu/article/783340 N1 – Volume 60, Number 1, 2021 ER –
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