demog-tables-figures

Tables & Figures (demog-tables-figures)

Exhibits are where an expert demographer checks whether the result is real — and where demographic data communicates best. Demography also limits exhibit counts: Research Articles allow roughly 8 tables and figures, Research Notes 4 (confirm current limits on the official page). Every exhibit must earn its place.

When to trigger

• Designing the main results table/figure or a key descriptive exhibit
• Deciding what belongs in the article vs. the online appendix
• A reviewer found an exhibit unclear, mislabeled, or non-self-contained
• Trimming to the table/figure limit

Principles

1. Self-contained. A reader should understand each exhibit from its title, axis/column labels, and note alone. State the population, period, age range, source/vintage, units, and N or exposure.
2. Use the right demographic graphic for the quantity. Don't default to a bar chart when the data call for an age schedule or a Lexis surface (see below).
3. Show uncertainty. Confidence bands on rates, life-expectancy contributions, hazard/survival curves, and decomposition components — not bare lines or point estimates.
4. Accessible. Colorblind-safe palettes; legible in grayscale; no chartjunk, no 3D. Reviewers and readers must parse it quickly.
5. Main text vs. appendix. Keep the few exhibits that carry the argument in the article; move full life tables, sensitivity grids, and supplementary detail to the online appendix. This also keeps you within the exhibit limit.
6. Reproducible. Each exhibit is generated by the master script; numbers match the deposited materials (see demog-data-and-reproducibility).

Distinctive demographic exhibits

• Population pyramids for age-sex structure and its change over time.
• Lexis surfaces / diagrams to show age x period x cohort patterns (e.g., mortality surfaces).
• Survival and hazard curves (Kaplan-Meier, cumulative-incidence for competing risks).
• Age schedules of fertility (ASFR), mortality (mx/qx), and migration; tempo-adjusted curves.
• Decomposition bar/stacked plots showing component contributions that sum to the total.
• Small-multiple maps for spatial demographic variation.

Anti-patterns

• Tables that require the prose to be intelligible (not self-contained)
• A generic bar chart where a Lexis surface or age schedule would reveal the pattern
• Rates or e0 contributions plotted with no uncertainty
• Cramming every robustness exhibit into the main text (blows the table/figure limit — use the appendix)
• Exhibit numbers/values that don't match the deposited code output

Exhibit pass for Demography

Run this as a concrete capability pass. First lock the demographic process, data source, time scale, selection/migration/mortality issue, and uncertainty; then test whether the manuscript addresses population-science reviewers who inspect demographic process, measurement, cohort/period logic, and population validity.

• Primary move: For every table or figure, state the object, sample/case base, uncertainty display, and one sentence the exhibit proves for this venue.
• Decision ledger: return claim / evidence / blocker / next edit rows so the next pass can patch the manuscript directly.
• Sibling comparison: compare against Population and Development Review for policy synthesis, JMF for family process, Social Forces for broader sociology; if the neighboring outlet has the stronger audience claim, recommend re-routing before polishing.
• Verification floor: before submission-ready advice, re-open resources/official-source-map.md for volatile rules and name the one unresolved fact that could change the recommendation.

Output format

【Main exhibit】what it shows + which demographic graphic + why
【Self-contained?】title + labels + note + population/period/source/N present? [Y/N]
【Uncertainty shown?】bands/intervals on rates/curves/components? [Y/N]
【Accessible?】grayscale-legible + colorblind-safe? [Y/N]
【Article vs appendix】split decided, within exhibit limit?
【Reproducible?】generated by master script, matches package? [Y/N]
【Next】demog-writing-style

Supplementary resources

• ../../resources/external_tools.md — plotting, Lexis-surface, life-table, and mapping packages
• ../../resources/official-source-map.md — table/figure limits by article type