Books & Reports

This open access book provides an overview of childlessness throughout Europe. It offers a collection of papers written by leading demographers and sociologists that examine contexts, causes, and consequences of childlessness in countries throughout the region.The book features data from all over Europe. It specifically highlights patterns of childlessness in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland.

The review highlights continuing economic growth in the EU together with a steady decrease in unemployment. In the third quarter of 2016, employment exceeded its pre-crisis peak by 0.9%, or 940 thousand more people in employment than in spring 2008. In December 2016, there were 1.8 million less unemployed people than the year before; including 1.3 million people less in the Euro Area. Full online access to the report.

The financial and economic crisis has been a challenge for the European integration process, and, in many respects, the study of South-North EU migration in times of crisis reveals as much about contemporary mobilities in the EU as it does on Member States’ willingness to build solidarity across borders. To study this phenomenon, this book involves contributions by scholars and institutions from both Southern and Northern Europe.  

This report expands on existing research on the labour market integration of refugees and asylum seekers as a response to the refugee crisis. It updates information on legislation and practical arrangements in the first half of 2016, examines labour market integration in the broader context of receiving asylum seekers and supporting both them and refugees, and explores the role of the social partners. The study finds that the main countries affected made many efforts to provide faster and easier access to their labour markets for asylum seekers.

This policy brief highlights recent research findings of the project “FamiliesAndSocieties” on the current trends in social policies related to families in Europe. It focuses on crucial policy issues related to youth, gender equality and childcare arrangements. The brief also presents suggestions for policy interventions linked to the findings.   Download the Policy Brief here    

Population-based longitudinal studies form the backbone of empirical research in the social, economic and behavioural sciences as well as in epidemiology and health research. As “largescale instruments” in these fields of science, they serve to test theories and make new observations, while also constituting the basis for evidence-based policy advice. Such large-scale instruments or indeed “research infrastructures” are extensive and complex research instruments with an at least national, if not international relevance for the respective fields of science.

This book presents recent efforts and new approaches to improve our understanding of the evolution of health and mortality in urban environments in the long run, looking at transformation and adaptations during the process of rapid population growth. In a world characterized by large and rapidly evolving urban environments, the past and present challenges cities face is one of the key topics in our society. Cities are a world of differences and, consequently, of inequalities.

This is the eighth edition of Society at a Glance, the biennial OECD overview of social indicators. This report addresses the growing demand for quantitative evidence on social well-being and its trends. It updates some indicators included in the previous editions published since 2001 and introduces several new ones, with 25 indicators in total. It includes data for the 35 OECD member countries and where available data for key partners (Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Russia and South Africa); other G20 countries (Argentina and Saudi Arabia) are also included.

Around the world, nearly 50 million children have migrated across borders or been forcibly displaced – and that’s a conservative estimate. More than half of these boys and girls fled violence and insecurity – 28 million in total. This UNICEF report presents, for the first time, comprehensive global data about these children – where they are born, where they move, and some of the dangers they face along the way. The report sheds light on the truly global nature of childhood migration and displacement, highlighting major challenges in every region.

(From the introduction)