demographic-trends-and-gender-preferences

The key to continued social and economic inclusion in later life is threefold, notes Alan Walker Your summary of the demographic challenges facing the world thankfully avoided the usual negative economic narrative about the “burden of dependency” ( Editorial, 16 June ). The Scandinavian experience demonstrates your point about family-friendly policies being welcome in their own right. Extensive p…

In 1990, roughly one in four players at the FIFA World Cup was based at a club outside the country his national team represented. At the 2026 edition it is nearly three in four. That is a structural shift in a labour market, and it has a surprisingly precise cause: a 1995 court ruling. I pulled the squad data together, cleaned it into a small CSV, and put it on GitHub under CC BY 4.0 so anyone ca…

Falling birth rates reveal a deeper social problem: many people who want children feel blocked by economic, housing, gender, and climate pressures. Birth rates have been falling around the world since the height of the baby boom that followed the Second World War. In many places, including Australia, they are now below replacement level. In [...]

Scientists have identified a reversal of the long-standing Flynn effect—the roughly 200-year trend of rising average intelligence (measured via IQ and cognitive tests) across generations. For the first time in modern recorded history, Generation Z (born roughly 1997–2012) shows lower performance than previous generations in key cognitive domains, including attention, memory, literacy, numeracy, e…

A new study using Canadian census data reveals that a neighborhood's economic and demographic conditions can predict the reproductive patterns of its residents 15 years later, offering insights into how childhood environments shape long-term family planning.

Less than a third are likely to be registered in November. We must work to ensure they have a voice About 4 million Americans will turn 18 in 2026, but if past trends continue, under a third of them will be registered to vote in the November elections. Automatically registering every American when they come of age would be the fairest, most effective way to protect US democracy, yet we have built…

Guardian investigation also finds same areas experienced relative decline over same period Leave-voting areas have seen faster relative growth in foreign workers since the Brexit referendum, a Guardian investigation has found. Data analysis suggests that the decade since the Brexit vote may not have matched the expectations of many Leave supporters, showing their local areas have also become rela…

IntroductionRapid population aging has made age discrimination against older adults increasingly prominent. However, empirical evidence on how age discrimination affects life satisfaction among Chinese older adults, and through which mechanisms, remains limited.MethodsUsing data from the 2021 China Social Survey (CSS), this study analyzed a sample of 840 older adults aged 60 and above. Ordinary l…

Exclusive: Analysis shows men aged 18 to 25 are less progressive than women their age, but less likely to vote for rightwing parties than other age groups of men Young men are not turning to rightwing politics more than any other demographic, according to a study of election data , which undermines claims that this group has been a key driver of the recent success of parties such as Reform UK . T…

YouGov survey of six countries shows respondents think crime is increasing – though most trust their national police Western Europeans believe crime is rising in their country, according to a survey, despite long-term overall crime rates falling across the region since the mid-1990s. The YouGov poll of Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy and Spain found most countries trusted their national …

On June 17, MPIDR researcher Henrik-Alexander Schubert was awarded the Otto Hahn Medal in Frankfurt for his doctoral thesis on “The fertility puzzle. Trends and patterns of male and female fertility”. The Medal was presented at the Annual Meeting of the Max Planck Society, during the meeting of the Human Sciences Section in Frankfurt. In his thesis, Henrik investigated low fertility and its deter…

Under conditions of low fertility, the association between overall working conditions and fertility intention, and the extent to which this association is accompanied by changes in traditional fertility beliefs, remain insufficiently understood, particularly among Chinese migrant workers, a population situated at the intersection of traditional cultural norms and the modern labor market. Using Va…

As Nebraska continues to confront brain drain and declining rural populations, the new Nebraska Snapshot from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln illustrates that residents' overall satisfaction with living here has fallen in the past six years.

IntroductionLarge-scale geopolitical crises may generate psychological distress beyond populations directly exposed to violence, particularly through uncertainty, perceived lack of control, and indirect exposure to threatening information.ObjectiveTo determine the association between country of residence and perceived stress related to the Russia–Ukraine war among adults from nine Latin American …

Due to women graduating from universities at significantly higher rates than men in Singapore, this has led to a mating gap or marriage squeeze, as highly educated, high-earning women find themselves competing for a dwindling number of men who meet their hypergamous criteria.

Are smartphones causing people to have fewer children? A provocative new working paper explores the persistent drop in birth rates since the iPhone was introduced nearly two decades ago.

Report says confidence among 16- to 21-year-olds has fallen sharply as they doubt hard work will be rewarded Young people in England are increasingly “losing faith in their futures” according to a report, as record numbers fear long-term unemployment. Analysing survey data, including from the Office for National Statistics, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said 16- to 21-year-olds …