Population geography has traditionally focused on the three themes of fertility mortality and migration (Jones 1990). However a simple perusal of the last few years of the International Journal of Population Geography the only population journal explicitly devoted to geographical population issues demonstrates that this is no longer the case. In particular papers on fertility are virtually non-existent barring a few notable exceptions (Arokiasamy 2002; Balabdaoui et al. 2001; Coleman 2002; Dyson 2001; Ford and Sirega 1998; Hank 2002) with the vast majority focusing on various aspects of migration. This apparent absence of interest in fertility issue was reflected in a recent international conference on population geography which attracted over 120 participants from 23 countries. Only four of the talks focused on fertility. The lack of work on fertility by geographers may not be of concern itself although it does seem surprising given the possible global economic impacts of low fertility in the developed world (Jackson 2002) and the potential of a geographical perspective to illuminate the many interesting issues that arise. However the relative absence of fertility (and mortality) research in population geography does raise important questions about the character and identity of population geography as one of geographys core subdisciplines. (excerpt)
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