Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. The cohort -- 2. The constant population -- 3. The stationary population -- 4. The semi-stationary population -- 5. Changing population totals -- 6. Introduction, lemma -- 7. Attainable structures -- 8. Re-attainable structures -- 9. Partially re-attainable structures -- 10. Stable populations -- 11. Optimization -- 12. Choice of transition rates.

The origins of this book go back to the middle 1940s, when the author was Statistician in the Admiralty, and to work done in the middle 1970s, when he was a Senior Research Fellow in the University of Sussex. The earlier work is described, with the necessary background, and with extensive additions, in Part I, while the later work is contained - again with extensions - in Part II.