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.
Press Release | April 23, 2026
Men Have Fewer Children Than Women
Researchers investigated whether men or women have fewer children. Using international datasets, they demonstrate that imbalances in population structure, particularly an increasing proportion of men, affect male fertility. While men used to have higher fertility than women globally, this has reversed, and women have and will have a higher fertility rate than men. The scientists offer recommendations to counteract the social implications of this trend. More
April
28
Scientific Presentations
LabTalks@KinshipInequalities
Elena Maria Pojman from the Research Group: Kinship Inequalities gives a talk. More
All Events
Recommended Readings | April 02, 2026
Family Complexity Influences Health in Mid-Adulthood
Pre-Conference Workshops EPC2026
Population Dynamics in a Changing Climate Health, Morbidity and Mortality Working Group Side Meeting Demographic Microsimulation in R using SOCSIM LLM Coding and Research Agents for Academics EAPS Working Group on Open Science in Demography
Introduction to our research groups
Fertility and Well-Being
New Research Project | April 21, 2026
The Future of Education: Max Planck Society Starts Interdisciplinary Research Project “EduTrack”
The Max Planck Society is launching a 6-year research project to explore how education must change to account for rapid societal transformations. As of April 2026, the “EduTrack” project initiates a collaboration between researchers across three Max Planck Institutes. Experts from demography, history, computer science and political science will collaborate to produce fresh insights on digital education, the globalisation of knowledge, as well as the impact of education on social mobility, crisis resilience, and democracy. More
Selected Publications
Andrade Santacruz , J. C.; Camarda, C. G.; Pifarré i Arolas, H.:
Cohort mortality forecasts indicate signs of deceleration in life expectancy gains Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 122:35, e2519179122–e2519179122. (2025)
Conte Keivabu, R.; Widmann, T.:
The effect of temperature on language complexity: evidence from seven million parliamentary speeches Iscience 27:6, 1–13. (2024)
More Publications
New Issue 1/2026 available | March 31, 2026
The Quarterly German Newsletter
MPIDR@PAA2026
Introduction to Digital Trace Data for Migration Studies
Questions and Answers
Being a Researcher at the MPIDR
Working at MPIDR
Life & Research in Rostock
Latest Publications
Jobs & Fellowships
News | March 04, 2026
Large Gaps in Migration Research
Open Access
Online Available Books
New Publication | April 16, 2026
People With a Similar Risk of Divorce are More Likely to Marry Each Other
A study by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health found that spouses tend to be very similar in terms of their risk of separation. Marriage is shaped not only by a person's own background, but also by that of their partner. The analysis of over 350,000 Norwegian marriages reveals a previously underestimated phenomenon: people with a similar risk of divorce tend to marry one another. More