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 the MPIDR | October 09, 2026
Welcome, Jason Bonham!
The Research Group Reproductive Ageing welcomes Jason Paul Bonham as a new team member. Prior to joining MPIDR, he worked at the sociology department of the University of Chicago where he completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Demography and Economics of Aging. Jason studies the history of demography. Hereby, he uses individual-level population data, archival material, and social theory to research how institutions organize fertility behavior across time and place. In the group Reproductive Aging, he will consider how these institutional objectives and policies expose males to their reproductive ageing through delayed fatherhood. More
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Preparatory courses at the MPIDR
European Doctoral School of Demography (EDSD)
The European Doctoral School of Demography is an eleven-month sponsored program that is offered every year aiming to provide students with an appropriate high-level education in demography to pursue their doctoral studies. Students will acquire a solid knowledge base on the causes and consequences of demographic change, population data, statistical and mathematical demography, as well as modeling, simulation, and forecasting. More
All Events
Perspectives
Blog@MPIDR
Recommended Readings | September 14, 2026
Comparison of Microsimulated and Register-based Kinship Data
Introduction to our research groups
Reproductive Ageing
Family | October 07, 2026
Parenthood with Multiple Partners
A new study by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) reveals that gender and social background influence the complexity of families in different ways throughout people's lives. Even in highly gender-equal Nordic countries, social inequalities in family formation persist. More
Selected Publications
Lorenti, A.; De Rose, A.; Racioppi, F.:
Volunteering during early retirement reduces depression Social Science and Medicine 367:117790, 1–12. (2025)
Ferraretto, V.; Hiekel, N.; Vitali, A.:
Non-cohabiting partners’ economic characteristics and the transition to living together in Germany: a couple-level perspective European Journal of Population 41:25, 1–28. (2025)
More Publications
Call for Papers
Special Collection | Demographic Research | Kinship Demography: Structures, Dynamics, and Inequalities
New Issue 3/2026 available | October 06, 2026
The Quarterly German Newsletter
Questions and Answers
Being a Researcher at the MPIDR
Working at MPIDR
Life & Research in Rostock
Anniversary
30 Years MPIDR in Rostock
Jobs & Fellowships
A peer-reviewed, open-access journal of population sciences
Doctoral Program
International Max Planck Research School for Population, Health and Data Science
News | September 30, 2026
New Horizon Europe Project LIFe Traces Inequalities Across Lives and Generations
How much do the circumstances of your birth shape where you end up as an adult? The project LIFe (Intergenerational Fairness: A Life-Course Approach) brings together research and policy-analysis institutions across Europe to examine how advantages and disadvantages build up over entire lifetimes and across generations. MPIDR’s Department of Digital and Computational Demography will take a leading role in modelling demographic and health developments. More