Congratulations | June 30, 2025

Antonino Polizzi Successfully Defended his Doctoral Thesis

In May, Antonino Polizzi successfully defended his doctoral thesis, "The Causes and the Consequences of Growing Life Expectancy Shortfalls" at the University of Oxford. More

July

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July

Symposium

Demographic and Health Consequences of Violence and Armed Conflict

This two-day symposium features scholars from a variety of disciplines, including demography, public health, sociology, political science, and economics, to present original research examining the short- and long-term impacts of armed conflict and violence on mortality, migration, fertility, the environment, and population health. More

All Events

Research Visit | June 04, 2025

Population and Social Data Science Summer Incubator Program 2025

New Issue 1/2025 available | April 02, 2025

The Quarterly German Newsletter

Introduction to our research groups

MaxHel Center

[SPOTLIGHT] | June 25, 2025

Should you Claim Your Pension Early or Wait?

In the US, the later you retire, the higher your monthly pension benefit will be. Researchers have investigated whether this is optimal, given the uncertainties surrounding life expectancy. The results show that delaying retirement poses a particular financial risk to men and low-income groups, and that different decisions are necessary depending on individual circumstances and uncertainty. More

Selected Publications

Sobotka, T.; Zeman, K.; Jasilioniene, A.; Winkler-Dworak, M.; Brzozowska, Z.; Alustiza Galarza, A.; Németh, L.; Jdanov, D. A.:

Pandemic roller-coaster? Birth trends in higher-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic Population and Development Review, 1–36. (2023)

Leesch, J.; Skopek, J.:

Five decades of marital sorting in France and the United States: the role of educational expansion and the changing gender imbalance in education Research in Social Stratification and Mobility 97:101044, 1–15. (2025)

More Publications

Jobs & Fellowships

New articles every week

Questions and Answers

Being a Researcher at the MPIDR

Working at MPIDR

Life & Research in Rostock

Press Release | April 02, 2025

Low Fertility and Economic Sustainability

SPOTLIGHT | March 13, 2025

A Difficult Childhood Increases the Risk of Dying Early

Open Access

Online Available Books

SPOTLIGHT | March 11, 2025

Level of Education and Place of Residence Influence Fertility Rates

How can we Link NBA Basketball, Physics, and Demography?

Can we predict Steph Curry’s next move on the court?
Last year, Boris Barron started at MPIDR as a research scientist in the Migration and Mobility Department. He is a physicist and specializes in modeling complex systems. While at Cornell University, he and his colleagues developed a methodology to analyze detailed positional information of basketball players in NBA games. Their approach adapted a physics-based approach, Density Functional Fluctuation Theory (DFFT), to provide a general framework to infer subtle aspects of the game. More