April 19, 2004 | Press Release
The MPIDR - An Overview
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research comprises two scientific divisions, which carry out research on aging, and on fertility and family development respectively. A Laboratory for Demographic Data assists both divisions. Support takes the form of data collection and processing as well as making available data relevant to demography. The laboratory also collects and analyses its own data in connection with the Institute's research programs and in cooperation with the two divisions.
The main focus of the Institute is on basic research, organized in an interdisciplinary fashion and combining in particular the biological and social sciences. Demographers, mathematicians, statisticians, sociologists, economists, biologists, anthropologists, physicians, psychologists, political scientists, and geographers are all engaged in joint research. They come from over 20 countries, including Germany, Russia, the USA, China, Austria, France, Great Britain, Italy, Poland, Japan, and the Scandinavian countries.
The research program on aging (headed by Prof. James W. Vaupel) is devoted to discovering the factors that determine aging, longevity, and mortality. One of the main foci is on mortality trends at advanced ages, since the medical and economic advances of recent decades have meant that the vast majority of deaths occur at late ages. With life expectancy on the rise and increasing numbers of elderly people in society, interest abounds in determining general trends as well as differences in aging processes and developments regarding longevity and mortality in various different countries. The program's researchers are working in particular to discover precisely which social and biological factors have an influence on longevity and how they are affected by specific conditions in individual countries. They also aim to gain deeper insights into life expectancy in societies and cultures of the past. In doing so, they are refining and implementing new methods of determining age at death from archaeological remains with greater precision and in order to obtain more precise information as to date.
Another component of the research program is the further development of theoretical mathematical and statistical methods and processes of analysis that will enable researchers to filter out those "survival characteristics" (from the large number of potential candidates) that are decisive for longevity and to determine the relative importance of these individual factors. In addition, newly acquired knowledge from bio-demography will be incorporated. Here, one has been attempting to explain longevity with the help of experiments involving micro-organisms. At the Institute, experiments are conducted with yeast cultures to this end.
The research program on fertility and family dynamics (under the leadership of Prof. Jan M. Hoem) investigates trends in births and family development in today's Europe. The general point of departure is the fact that in all highly developed societies (particularly in Europe) birth rates are sinking and new family forms such as out-of-wedlock relationships, single-parent families and step families are becoming increasingly common. Although noticeable regional differences in fertility and family behavior do exist in Europe, e.g., between eastern and western Germany, southern and northern Italy, the individual Scandinavian countries, as well as between northern, central, southern and eastern European countries, there are also some generally valid trends. The research program aims to investigate and explain the forms and course of these developments as well as the decisive factors underlying them.
The researchers of the program endeavor to determine from a demographic, economic, sociological, political-scientific, and gender-specific perspective how important social, economic, cultural, and social welfare-related influences are individually and in combination with each other and how value orientations and changes therein affect family and childbirth-related behavior.
The following topics are currently at the focus of attention: (1) parallelism of demographic processes in the life course, (2) connections between institutional and political framework conditions on the one hand and generative behavior on the other, as well as (3) the influence of individual social contexts on fertility and family dynamics.
As of November 2003, a new Junior Independent Research Group called "The Culture of Reproduction" (headed by Dr. Laura Bernardi) has been included in this research program. It conducts research on the cultural aspects of family and fertility decisions.
In addition to its own research activity, the Institute publishes the online journal Demographic Research. The Institute is also the core organization of the International Max Planck Research School for Demography. This cooperation of scientists was set up together with the University of Rostock and other European universities and research institutes. Together, they offer a diverse range of advanced courses and scientific advising that no individual institute can provide by itself. Under the patronage of the Research School, students from Germany and abroad are given the opportunity to prepare for their doctorate under excellent conditions for research and study. Furthermore, the Institute, together with the University of Rostock, is currently setting up the Rostock Center for Research on the Causes and Consequences of Demographic Change.
About the MPIDR
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock investigates the structure and dynamics of populations. The Institute’s researchers explore issues of political relevance, such as demographic change, 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. The MPIDR is one of the largest demographic research bodies in Europe and is a worldwide leader in the study of populations. The Institute is part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research organization.