Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

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.

New Position | September 07, 2026

Alyson van Raalte and Kieron Barclay appointed new Editors-in-Chief of Population Studies

Starting September 1, 2026, Alyson van Raalte and Kieron Barclay will succeed longtime editor John Ermisch in leading the journal 'Population Studies'. More

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October

Preparatory courses at the MPIDR

European Doctoral School of Demography (EDSD)

The European Doctoral School of Demography is an eleven-month sponsored program that is offered every year aiming to provide students with an appropriate high-level education in demography to pursue their doctoral studies. Students will acquire a solid knowledge base on the causes and consequences of demographic change, population data, statistical and mathematical demography, as well as modeling, simulation, and forecasting. More

All Events

IDEM 187 - Call for Application

Topics in Digital and Computational Demography

Anniversary

30 Years MPIDR in Rostock

Introduction to our research groups

Max Planck – University of Helsinki Center for Social Inequalities in Population Health (MaxHel)

News | September 02, 2026

Worried About the Environment, but Still Becoming Parents

Strong environmental concerns generally did not keep young people from becoming parents. These worries tended to fade with age among parents and non-parents alike. Whether today’s younger generations will follow the same pattern remains an open question. More

Selected Publications

Micheletti, C.; Villavicencio, F.:

On the relationship between life expectancy, modal age at death, and the threshold age of the life table entropy Demographic Research 51:24, 763–788. (2024)

Myrskylä, M.; Hellstrand, J.; Lappo, S.; Lorenti, A.; Nisén, J.; Rao, Z.; Tikanmäki, H.:

Declining fertility, human capital investment, and economic sustainability Demography 62:2, 489–514. (2025)

More Publications

30 years MPIDR

Invitation: The Challenge of Demographic Change – How Our Society Is Changing