We study the structure and dynamics of populations and explore issues of political relevance, such as aging, fertility, and the redistribution of work over the life course, as well as digitization and the use of new data sources for the estimation of migration flows.
Press Release | April 23, 2026
Men Have Fewer Children Than Women
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. While men used to have higher fertility than women globally, this has reversed, and women have and will have a higher fertility rate than men. The scientists offer recommendations to counteract the social implications of this trend. More
May
19
Scientific Presentations
LabTalks@SocialDemography
Nataliia Levchuk from the Laboratory of Population Health and Enrique Acosta from the Research Group: Kinship Inequalities give a talk. More
All Events
Recommended Readings | April 02, 2026
Family Complexity Influences Health in Mid-Adulthood
Pre-Conference Workshops EPC2026
Population Dynamics in a Changing Climate Health, Morbidity and Mortality Working Group Side Meeting Demographic Microsimulation in R using SOCSIM LLM Coding and Research Agents for Academics EAPS Working Group on Open Science in Demography
Introduction to our research groups
MaxHel Center
Blog@MPIDR | Life at the Institute | April 30, 2026
My Internship at the MPIDR
Johann Behrendt was a visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock from February to April. He is currently studying psychology in Leipzig. In the MPIDR blog, he describes his experiences as a research intern gaining an insight into a scientific discipline other than his own. More
Selected Publications
Dańko, M. J.; Wiśniowski, A.; Jasilionis, D.; Jdanov, D. A.; Zagheni, E.:
Assessing the quality of data on international migration flows in Europe: the case of undercounting Migration Studies 12:2, 1–21. (2024)
Dierker, P.; Kühn, M.; Myrskylä, M.:
Re-partnering and single mothers' mental health and life satisfaction trajectories MPIDR Working Paper WP-2023-001. (2023)
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Life & Research in Rostock
New Issue 1/2026 available | March 31, 2026
The Quarterly German Newsletter
A peer-reviewed, open-access journal of population sciences
Open Access
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Doctoral Program
International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science
PHD | April 28, 2026
Congratulations, Chia-Jung Tsai!
Chia-Jung Tsai from the Laboratory of Migration and Mobility at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), successfully defended her doctoral thesis, “Factors Shaping Public Attitudes and Responses to Refugee and Immigrant Populations: Examining the Interplay of Demographics, Media, and Contextual Influences“, at the University Pompeu Fabra. Her findings contribute to our understanding of how public opinion toward refugees and immigrants is shaped by various factors, such as the media, demographic composition, and the COVID-19 pandemic. More