Big data analytics. A demographer’s perspective

Abstract

In the past few years, several demographers have pointed out the need to consider big data in population studies. Some are in favour of data-driven approaches, as statistical algorithms could discover novel patterns in the data. This paper examines some of the methods, both old and new, that have been developed for detecting patterns and associations in the data. It concludes with a discussion on how big data and big data analytics can contribute to improving the explanatory power of models in the social sciences and in demography in particular.