Social Demography (Myrskylä)

At a Glance Laboratories Publications Team

© iStockphoto.com/smartboy10

The key forces governing demographic processes are social, political, and biological. The consequences of demographic change are similarly spread across the social, political, and biological spheres. The Department of Social Demography focuses on understanding how these forces jointly produce the modern demographic landscape; it charts possible demographic futures and their consequences; and explores the feasibility of adaptation for the future scenarios that are challenging in terms of economic, social, and other dimensions of sustainability. We place a strong emphasis on population-level trends and micro-macro mechanisms driving the macro developments. We use and develop cutting-edge mathematical, statistical, and computational methods and rich sets of existing register, survey, and biomarker data, as well as data collected by our teams and collaborators. The focal areas of our research themes are not bounded geographically or in time but have a leaning towards contemporary patterns and future challenges. The integration of knowledge across the five research themes holds the promise to develop a new understanding of demography as both consequence of and cause for social change.   Detailed Description