Bayesian small area demography - ARCHIVED

Demographers are facing increasing pressure to disaggregate their estimates and forecasts by characteristics such as region, ethnicity, and income. Traditional demographic methods were designed for large samples, and perform poorly with disaggregated data. Methods based on formal Bayesian statistical models offer better performance. We illustrate with examples from a long-term project to develop Bayesian approaches to demographic estimation and forecasting. In our first example, we estimate mortality rates disaggregated by age and sex for a small population. In our second example, we simultaneously estimate and forecast obesity prevalence disaggregated by age. We conclude by addressing two traditional objections to the use of Bayesian methods in statistical agencies.