News from the Network

Out now: Population Europe's Quarterly Newsletter! Please download it here: Population_Europe_Newsletter_July_2016.pdf

Brexit would affect foreign net contributors to Britain’s welfare state—and their British partners. Read the full op-ed here: https://www.theeuropean-magazine.com/andreas-edel/11073-brexit

Fanny Kluge, researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock/Germany, one of Population Europe's Partners, has estimated how different the effects of an aging society will be on different European countries. One finding of her work is that the countries that have yet to recover from the Great Recession will face massive problems within a few decades.

On 20 June 2016, the European Commission launched the Knowledge Centre for Migration and Demography (KCMD).

Our lives are getting longer, yes, but this does not necessarily imply more active years. As life expectancy continues to rise, there is a natural tendency to tack these additional years onto the economically in­active phases of our life course, namely to post-retirement. This can be costly for pub­lic budgets. It’s “natural”, though, because adding them anywhere else would require a conscious change to when we retire. Polit­ically, touching retirement is risky, but this is not necessarily the problem. Many countries have already begun adopt­ing measures to prolong working life.

Obesity and overweight is largely preventable, yet widespread around the world. They are particularly prevalent in richer countries. Since 1980, the global percentage of overweight adults has increased from around 30 to closer to 40. In Europe, the figure has reached 50.

A long and healthy life, isn’t that what we all wish for? But what are your chances of living to 100? Can you influence this? How do your early years, your family life, where  you live, your lifestyle and your work affect these chances? 

“All in all, we know far too little about migration to be able to draw reliable conclusions. The main problem is the missing data,” Frans Willekens (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research) says. For this reason, he and his colleagues Douglas Massey (Office of Population Research, Princeton University, USA), James Raymer (School of Demography, Australia National University, Canberra) and Cris Beauchemin (Institute National d’Études Démographiques, Paris, France) call on both the research community and on political institutions to take action.

Migration is one of the major factors causing population change in Europe today. As a result, European societies have become more ethnically diverse over the last decades. Understanding societal developments among Europe’s heterogeneous population requires better insight in the life courses and family dynamics of migrants.