Models in Demography

Abstract

In this article, we present a way to use GeoGebra for working on so called Leslie models. Biomathematicians use these models to describe the demographic development of populations. We have used original statistics on the population of the city of Vienna to provide realistic data. By following the presented tasks students gain insights into the field of demography by starting with the familiar exponential growth model which is successively advanced to a simple Leslie model that takes into consideration the age structure of the population. GeoGebra serves as an ideal tool for implementing these models and allows for some predictions for the future development of the population being considered.