2.3 John Graunt - father of demography

Lists of baptisms and burials kept by the church became more common in Europe in the Middle Ages. A London draper called John Graunt (1620-1674) was also interested in these lists. Graunt's civilian profession was slightly exceptional for a scientist-demographer, but like many of his contemporaries, he was interested in social phenomena. Graunt's great wealth allowed him to devote time to other matters than his work.

In 1662 John Graunt published his study entitled "Natural and Political Observations Mentioned in the Following Index, and Made upon the Bills of Mortality, with Reference to the Government, Religion, Trade, Growth, Air, Diseases and the Several Changes of the Said City". This volume was the beginning of a systematic, continuous study later known as demography. The name of Graunt's book would indicate that he could easily have been the father of many other fields of science as well!

The basic materials of Graunt's studies were Bills of Mortality, lists of deaths maintained by parishes. These lists indicated the causes of death, which information was valuable in the times afflicted by epidemics. When the number of epidemics started to grow alarmingly, wealthy people moved outside the city to healthier regions and returned to the city once the epidemic was over.