November 26, 2024 | News | Latest Publications

Winter 2024/25

Find out what new publications have been released in autumn 2024.

All publications of MPIDR
Latest Publications Summer 2024

Women´s Education Influences Fertility Rates in Sub-Saharan Africa

Paper published November 4, 2024

New research shows a strong correlation between higher levels of female education and lower fertility rates in sub-Saharan Africa. A study by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) and partners finds that educated women are leading the shift towards smaller family sizes, even influencing the decisions of less educated women around them. The study's innovative forecasting model based on education levels provides policymakers with better tools to understand how women's education can shape future population trends and promote sustainable development.

Read the press release here.

Original Publication

Adhikari, S., Kebede, E., Lutz, W.: Forecasting Africa's Fertility Decline by Female Education Groups in PNAS (2024); DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320247121

Keywords

Forecasting, Cohort Fertility, Africa, Female Education, Skills

Family as a Wealth Factor

Paper published October 19, 2024
Study reveals how generational change and family events are associated with a person's wealth

A new study conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), the University of Cologne, GESIS and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health explores how an individual’s financial wealth changes in relation to generational transitions within the family. The results indicate that those who become parents and grandparents later in life, and, particularly if they experience the loss of their parents later, tend to accumulate the most wealth. In contrast, families spanning four generations experience the smallest increase in wealth. A person's financial wealth is deeply interconnected with intergenerational family transitions, such as the birth of grandchildren or the death of parents, and is tied to the family structure as a whole.

Find the press release here.

Original Publication

Bettina Hünteler, Theresa Nutz, Jonathan Wörn: The relationship of intergenerational family transitions and wealth in Norway: A life course perspective in Oxford University Press (2024). DOI: 10.1093/sf/soae151

Keywords

Norway, family demography, inequality, population registers, wealth

Review highlights gender differences in the migration process

Paper published October 10, 2024
A look at gender in the migration process

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) have recently published a study collecting and synthesizing findings from 170 studies that analyse gender differences in the migration process based on quantitative research and various migration data sources. The study shows that women are less likely than men to achieve their migration goals. Furthermore, the research findings cast a new light on the common narrative of the 'feminisation of migration' and suggest that female migrants face double discrimination in the labour market. They are discriminated against because they are women and because of their migrant status. The study highlights that most research to date has focused on the Global North, and that migration patterns to and within the Global South have not been sufficiently explored. The researchers stress the importance of taking gender differences in migration into account when making demographic projections.

Author Athina Anastasiadou of the MPIDR explains: “The most important contribution of our work is to shed light on research that has already attempted to understand the relationship between gender and migration. At the same time, we aim to make the case for better data collection by gender and also to encourage demographers to rethink their concept of 'gender' when studying migration as a component of demographic change that is determined not by biological characteristics but by societal norms and roles.”

Original Publication

Athina Anastasiadou, Jisu Kim, Ebru Sanlitürk, Helga A. G. de Valk, Emilio Zagheni: Gender Differences in the Migration Process: A Narrative Literature Review in Population and Development Review (2024), DOI: 10.1111/padr.12677