News from the Network

It is tempting, write Michaela Kreyenfeld and Dirk Konietzka, to regard rising childlessness in Europe as a “distinctly new and ‘post-modern’ phenomenon”. But is it really? “Is ‘voluntary’ childlessness really a new development?”, they ask. And: “Can we actually draw a line between ‘voluntary’ and ‘involuntary’ childlessness?”, "What drives childlessness in the twenty-first century?"

Out now: Population Europe's Quarterly Newsletter! Please download it here: Population Europe Newsletter January 2017.pdf

  --- MPIDR press release ---   Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock, Germany have calculated birthrates for men in Germany for the first time. They found that in each year since 1991 the average number of children per man was lower than that per woman. In 2013 (latest available data) the birthrate was 1.35 for males and 1.42 for females. For 1994 they obtained a new world record low – the birthrate in eastern Germany was only 0.74 children per man.

-- Press release by the MPIDR -- A low birth weight is considered a risk factor for decreased cognitive abilities in later life. This risk factor now seems to be dissolving; it is much less pronounced in younger birth cohorts.

Congratulations to four European demographers who have been awarded prestigious Consolidator Grants by the European Research Council (ERC): Guido Alfani (Dondena Centre at Bocconi University, Population Europe Partner) for the project "Social Mobility and Inequality across Italy and Europe: 1300-1800";

Population ageing will continue to be one of Europe’s biggest long-term policy challenges in coming decades. Older populations have many advantages, but they also have very concrete costs—most notably on pensions, one of the foundations of modern-day welfare states. Longer lives, the result of better health and nutrition, is certainly part of the equation, but this can hardly be qualified as a problem. No, Europe is ageing, and—despite our intentions—low fertility is the reason. Low fertility is also the result of positive developments.

Refugees’ post-migration choices about where to call home have stumped many a policymaker. In 2015, it was refugees’ “irregular secondary movement” that rendered Europe’s Dublin system obsolete. Yet it is refugees’ voluntary relocation away from ethnic enclaves that signals successful integration. A closer look at a Swedish policy exposes motivations behind them and how even light interventions can affect outcomes. In 1985, refugee settlement was changed from open to assigned to promote integration by mitigating the growth of established ethnic enclaves.

 In recent years, leading representatives from science, politics and society have been promoting the idea that the ageing of society is a chance that should be used. Not only is the overall life expectancy continuing to increase, there is also the possibility to live longer in good health. Even more people will be able to work longer and be more active in their free time.

In the current edition of Deutsche Welle's TV magazine "Global 3000", Harald Wilkoszewski (Population Europe Brussels Office) explains the role of demographic factors behind the presidential elections in the United States and the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom.

The higher the life expectancy in a society, the smaller the difference between the ages at which people will die. An international team of scientists, including researchers from the Population Europe Partners, including the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and the Max-Planck Odense Center on the Biodemography of Aging, has discoverd a novel regularity for vastly different human societies and epochs.