“Exploring Population Heterogeneities”, Wittgenstein Centre Conference 2023
6 -7 December 2023, Vienna/Austria
Understanding and analyzing population heterogeneity and its drivers have long been at the heart of demographic analysis. For instance, while inequalities in health and life expectancy across socio-economic groups have been studied since long, their increase over the past decade has turned into a growing concern. In addition to “classical” markers of heterogeneity in individual behavior, such as sex/gender, age, education, urban-rural residence and socio-economic status, there are other important sources of demographic heterogeneity such as spatial, generational, environmental, etc. Their analysis is essential for modeling population developments and projecting them into the future. Equally important is to understand how these heterogeneities arise and evolve, how they are driving and driven by socioeconomic inequality, and the policy challenges they impose for socio-economic development, welfare systems and social cohesion. This conference invites researchers from all social sciences to present work on the causes and consequences of population heterogeneity. Empirical and theoretical papers are welcome.
Topics of interest include the following:
- The role and evolution of education as one of the main factors of demographic heterogeneity
- Increasing mortality gradients and health disparities across cohorts
- Heterogeneity in fertility, reproduction and reproductive preferences
- Exploring heterogeneity in the demographic behavior of migrant populations
- Increasing heterogeneity across and within family structures
- Heterogeneity in space: geographic areas, urban and rural populations
- Projecting population heterogeneities
- Demographic heterogeneity and socio-economic inequality: processes and policies
- Social instability, segmentation, polarization and policy responses
For any questions regarding the conference, please contact conference.vid(at)oeaw.ac.at
