Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

New Faces at MPIDR | December 09, 2025

Welcome Aijie Zhang!

The Laboratory of Fertility and Wellbeing welcomes Aijie Zhang as a PhD student. Her doctoral research will focus on fertility dynamics and patterns in high-income countries. She joins us after completing her Master's degree in Economics at the University of Bonn. Beyond this primary focus, her academic interests also include institutions, gender, inequality and criminology.  More

Gaza | November 25, 2025

Study Reveals Unprecedented Losses of Life and Life Expectancy

A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) and the Centre for Demographic Studies (CED) investigated the impact of the ongoing conflict in Gaza on mortality. They estimate that 78,318 (70,614-87,504) people were killed in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and December 31, 2024. As a result, life expectancy in Gaza in 2024 fell to nearly half the level expected without the war. An update of their analysis, produced after the publication of the study, revealed that the current violent death toll likely exceeds 100,000.   More

Workshop | December 08, 2025

New Research Questions for Climate Change

In mid-November, numerous scientists from around the world gathered at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock to discuss the topic of “Climate Change, Environmental Hazards and Population Dynamics” at a workshop initiated by Risto Conte Keivabu, Ebru Sanlitürk, Daniela Perrotta, Emilio Zagheni and Raya Muttarak (University of Bologna) and the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Population Dynamics under Global Conflict and Climate Change.  More