demography

Let’s face it: Another baby boom isn’t coming anytime soon. The latest round of US birth data, released earlier this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show the general fertility rate has dropped to a new record low of 53.1 per 1,000 females between 15 and 44 — a 23 percent decrease […]

The social and economic impact of people living longer and having fewer babies is hitting countries worldwide. Adaptation is key In Japan, there are now companies that specialise in cleaning the apartments of elderly people who have died alone and gone undiscovered for weeks or months, while adult incontinence pads have outstripped nappy sales for more than a decade. In Italy, depopulating villag…

Puerto Ricans account for over 20% of Hispanics in New Jersey. It is estimated that 27.8% live below the poverty line. The poverty rate amongst this community is higher than the state average. Prior to this study, no known study examined what advocates for improving socioeconomic conditions amongst Puerto Ricans in New Jersey believed were the barriers to and/or facilitators of reducing poverty. …

How American Dads Became the Parents Their Fathers Never Were Compared to their parents, Millennial fathers have roughly tripled the amount of time they spend with kids. The new American dad is more present and more exhausted—but also, more satisfied with life. Today’s article was written with Aziz Sunderji, an economic analyst and data whiz who writes at Home Economics. American fatherhood has t…

In Methodological Investigations in Agent-Based Modelling: With Applications for the Social Sciences. Cham: Springer Verlag. pp. 167-187. 2018This chapter describes the history of demography, setting up the context for our discussions around the introduction of agent-based models into this area of social science. We will discuss the empirical strengths of demography, it’s theoretical shortcomings…

Latest ONS figures also suggest lower population growth in coming decades than previously expected Deaths are projected to outnumber births in the UK every year from 2026 and the population is expected to grow at a slower rate over the next few decades than previously reported, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). About 1.7 million people are projected to join the population bet…

As the Supreme Court deliberates on whether “birthright citizenship” is constitutional (it’s not), left-wing media outlets are suddenly very, very concerned about falling American birth rates. They are claiming that if we don’t allow illegal aliens to enter the U.S., and then magically create citizens by air-dropping babies on American soil, there will simply be […] The post Is Immigration a Solu…

Which topics do local administrations focus on when providing refugees and other immigrants with information about their first steps after arrival – and how well are they received? These questions are particularly important in federal systems, where regions bear significant responsibility for integration efforts, despite limited resources and a complex network of offices to navigate. This study e…

Resolution Foundation report says ‘crisis’ stems from rising ill-health and a failing system of benefits and job support Britain has the third-highest rate of young people not in work or education among Europe’s richest countries because of rising ill-health and a failing system of benefits and job support, a report has warned. The Resolution Foundation thinktank said the UK was facing a “crisis”…

Background: Fertility in Spain has declined and shifted to later ages alongside diversification of family formation, raising questions about how partnership life courses shape completed fertility by late reproductive age. Objective: We aim to assess how key features of partnership trajectories – timing, duration, and sequencing – relate to motherhood and parity by age 41 among women in contempora…

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Published online: 27 April 2026; doi:10.1057/s41599-026-07068-4 Factors affecting fertility preferences among Chinese women of childbearing age: a multi-center Best–Worst Scaling (BWS) survey

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Published online: 23 April 2026; doi:10.1057/s41599-026-07340-7 What the average hides: analysing the inequality of opportunity for children in Türkiye

US policy shift leaves 300,000 in limbo retrace perilous journeys south, searching for stability Two small scars on either side of his left thigh remind Mario Torres of the worst day he has had during the two-plus years he has spent on the road crisscrossing Latin America searching for a stable life. Torres fled Venezuela in 2018, when he was just 18 years old. After a stint in Colombia and Peru,…

Researchers investigated whether men or women have fewer children. Using international datasets, they demonstrate that imbalances in population structure, particularly an increasing proportion of men, affect male fertility. Globally, women have and will have a higher fertility rate than men. The scientists offer recommendations to counteract the social implications of this trend.

About 1.7 million people in the U.S. are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (NHPI), tracing their roots to Hawaii, Guam, Samoa or other Pacific Islands in Oceania.

We all know Canada is huge. But when you render its population as 3D spikes rising from the surface, the answer becomes visceral. Almost everyone lives in a narrow strip hugging the US border. I built this map using R and rayshader . Each spike represents population density in a given hexagonal cell. Taller and darker = more people. What Stands Out The Golden Horseshoe (Toronto area) towers over …

Student mobility is a significant indicator of the ASEAN Plus Three (APT) regional integration identity. ASEAN-5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and +3 (China, Japan and South Korea) student flows are examples of APT. Focusing on student mobility through the lens of Social Network Analysis (SNA) can help shed light on its underlying structural features. An updated top-five…

17% of U.S. children under 18 live in a blended family most or all of the time – one that includes a stepparent, stepsiblings or half siblings.

The Laboratory of Demographic Data welcomes Moradhvaj Dhakad as a new team member. Moradhvaj is joining the Datalab as a scientist researcher as part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship program. Prior to joining MPIDR, he worked at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), University of Vienna and the Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sci…

Moradhvaj Dhakad joined the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in November 2025. During his time at IIASA, he collaborated with Erich Striessnig, Nandita Saikia, Samir K.C. and Wolfgang Lutz to explore why mortality among working-age adults remains high in India despite rapid economic growth. They found that education, at both the individual and community levels, was more stron…