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September 07, 2023 | Press Release
Society is aging. What does this mean for health in old age, how is the quality of life evolving, and what are the disparities between different groups of people? Shubhankar Sharma, along with Jo Mhairi Hale, Mikko Myrskylä, and Hill Kulu have published a study that examines gender, racial/ethnic, and educational differences in relation to both mild cognitive impairment or dementia and “activity limitations” in the United States. more
September 04, 2023 | News | Congratulations
Silvia Loi, deputy head of the Laboratory of Population and Health, has successfully applied for a grant from the European Research Council (ERC). She will receive approximately 1.5 million euros to carry out her research project "Immigrant-Native Health Disparities in Ageing Societies". Watch our Video-News! more
August 25, 2023 | News
Fertility is on the decline - especially in Western countries. This is particularly surprising in a country like Finland. After all, the conditions for families here are excellent. Previous attempts to explain the decline in fertility, such as a lack of gender equality or socio-economic reasons, have not been effective. There must be other factors at work. Researchers from the University of Helsinki, the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, the Population Research Institute and Kela (the Social Insurance Institution of Finland) have investigated whether the desire to have children has changed among the younger generations. The study did not examine whether this has a direct impact on fertility, but notes that more and more people want to remain childless. Whether this change in the desire to have children is responsible for the decline in fertility remains an open question and should be the subject of future research. more
August 17, 2023 | News | Call for Proposals
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) is highly interested in developing partnerships with African scholars and institutions whose research is related to population studies. Therefore, we support the call for proposals for three Max Planck-Humboldt Research Units in Subsahara-Africa by the Max Planck Society and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. more
August 16, 2023 | News | New faces at MPIDR

New Face at MPIDR: Megan Evans started on August 1st. She comes from Pennsylvania State University, USA, where she received her Ph.D. in Sociology and Demography. The title of her dissertation is "Racialized Place-Making: An Investigation of Race, Place, and Value". Her dissertation examines how Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) appraisers, who were responsible for institutionalizing redlining in the U.S. housing market, considered the Black racial composition of a community as influential to lending risk by examining their language choices and written description of the neighborhoods they chose to redline. Findings provide insights into the social process through which the racialization of lending risk occurred, and identifies the language used in service of preserving neighborhood racial identities. Prior to Penn State Megan did her undergraduate studies at Youngstown State University and received her B.A. in English and Sociology in 2013. She joins the Laboratory of Population Health at MPIDR. more
August 14, 2023 | News | New Publication
Every year, millions of people decide to leave their homes and move to another country. The reasons are many and varied. People flee war and climate change, or follow a job to another country. But what happens to their health when they leave home and grow old in another country? Su Yeon Jang, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR), together with Anna Oksuzyan, Mikko Myrskylä, Frank van Lenthe (Erasmus MC University Medical Center) and Silvia Loi, explores this question in their latest paper. more
August 09, 2023 | News
For our German audiences: Nicole Hiekel was a guest on the Ach-Mensch podcast by detektor.fm and the Max Planck Society. In the new series on "Freedom", she talks about how social norms and individual attitudes towards gender equality influence the decision whether, when and in which family model we become parents and how we shape our lives as parents. more
July 31, 2023 | News
Self-actualization, personal freedoms, and self-fulfillment contribute to childbearing behavior. Personality traits such as empathy and extroversion influence the likelihood of deciding to be a parent. more
July 25, 2023 | News | Award
Angela Carollo won the award for the Best Student Poster at the 37th International Workshop on Statistical Modelling which was held in Dortmund July 17-21, 2023. more
July 24, 2023 | News | New Publication
The stillbirth rate in Germany has been rising steadily since 2009. The reasons for this are still unclear. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) and the University of Rostock have used decomposition analysis to investigate the influence of demographic factors such as the age and nationality of pregnant women on the increase in the stillbirth rate in Germany. more