This paper discusses demographic analysis and illustrates how it might be used to strengthen educational policy planning. Much of the paper uses techniques of demographic analysis in an effort to describe the current and future demographic context of educational policy planning. The author examines trends in national fertility and age distribution and predicts sizeable fluctuations in elementary, high school, and college enrollment during the rest of this century. In addition, the author discusses several other expected demographic and social changes that will have important implications for educational policy planning. These changes include a long-term change in the labor market resulting in a teacher shortage sometime during the 1980s, an increasing trend toward mid-life career switching, and a possible decline in college attendance due to a rising incidence of families with several children of college age at the same time. (Author/JG)