Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

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.

New Faces at MPIDR | December 16, 2025

Welcome Jiseon Baek!

The Laboratory of Fertility & Wellbeing welcomes Jiseon Baek as a new research scientist. Jiseon is enthusiastic about investigating disparities in reproductive outcomes. She will defend her PhD thesis on the fertility of immigrant generations in the United Kingdom at the University of St Andrews in January 2026. Before her PhD, her research interests were developed through her Master's degrees in Social Welfare at Seoul Women’s University and Social Research at the University of Edinburgh. She is excited to pursue her research on reproductive life courses at MPIDR. More

December

Scientific Presentations

LabTalks@DCD

Adam Visokay from the University of Washington gives a talk. More

All Events

Call for Application

Population and Social Data Science Summer Incubator Program

Call for Papers

Conference: Kinship Structures, Dynamics, and Inequalities

Introduction to our research groups

Fertility and Well-Being

December 15, 2025

IMPRS-PHDS Annual Academy 2025

Held each December, the Annual Academy of the International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science is a welcome highlight at the end of the year. When the weather outside turns cold or just mostly rainy, more than 100 IMPRS-PHDS doctoral students, alumni, faculty members, and friends gather in the cozy MPIDR auditorium. More

Selected Publications

Gueltzow, M.; Oude Groeniger, J.; Bijlsma, M. J.; Jansen , P. W.; Houweling, T. A. J.; van Lenthe, F. J.:

Childhood obesity's influence on socioeconomic disparities in young adolescents’ mental health Annals of Epidemiology 94, 19–26. (2024)

Akbaritabar, A.; Theile, T.; Zagheni, E.:

Bilateral flows and rates of international migration of scholars for 210 countries for the period 1998-2020 Scientific Data 11:816, 1–14. (2024)

More Publications

Recommended Readings | November 11, 2025

Rethinking Formal Demography: Birth as an Event Experienced by the Child

Career

Open Positions

Questions and Answers

Being a Researcher at the MPIDR

Working at MPIDR

Life & Research in Rostock

New articles every week

New Issue 3/2025 available | September 25, 2025

The Quarterly German Newsletter

Press Release | July 02, 2025

Rapid Demographic Changes Reshape Family Structures

Open Access

Online Available Books

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