April 04, 2013 | Defo News

Similar, though different

The new issue (Nr. 01/2013) of "Demografische Forschung Aus Erster Hand", the popular science newsletter with latest research results from demography, has been released. (The Newsletter is available in German only.)

Topics of the 01/2013 issue:

Similar, though different
Do East-West comparisons in family research still make sense?
Is now growing together what belongs together? Or are East-West family differences increasing? These questions have been the subject of controversy ever since the unification of Germany. Norbert F. Schneider of the Federal Institute of Population Research takes a critical look at both theories and pledges  for a more differentiated view.

Arms or education?
In 2025, every third person of employable age will still have never been to school.
In 1951, Pakistan had 33 million inhabitants. Today, it is assumed that hundred years later, i.e.  in 2050, the population will have increased almost tenfold to reach around 300 million. At worst, the rapid increase will produce a large stratum of unskilled young people who may plummet the country into political unrest.

High numbers of children in the countryside, low numbers in the city?
Longitudinal study on regional birthrates in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria
In terms of family formation,  it still made a difference in 1900 whether a women lived in Berlin or Lower Bavaria: Whereas city slickers had on average 2.7 children, women living in the South of Germany gave birth to twice as many and more. Today, such large differences are rare – unless you take a close look.

"Demografische Forschung Aus Erster Hand" is a joint publication of the Max Planck Institute for demographic Research (MPIDR), the Rostocker Zentrum zur Erforschung des Demografischen Wandels (RZ), the Vienna Institute of Demography (VID), the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital and the Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB). The newsletter is released four times a year and is available electronically and as a printed version and is free of charge.

All past issues are available online on the Newsletter website. On the website you also have the possibility to subscribe to the Newsletter to get informed about the release of the new issues or to receive the printed versions by mail.