Demography
Why do we have more children in Sweden than in most other countries in Europe? How is same-sex marriage evolving? What are the consequences of increasing life-spans?
Demographic research studies the population, how it is composed and how it changes. Behaviour surrounding childbearing, mortality and migration can be analysed due to the availability of Swedish population data which sometimes spans several centuries. Some of the research conducted at the University deals with connections between family policy, childbearing and factors such as education, the labour market and housing. A project financed by the Swedish Research Council is particularly focused on analyses of Swedish registry data.
The work is based in the demographic unit in the Department of Sociology, but also includes researchers in cultural geography and social policy in other departments. Interdisciplinary research on the relationships among European social and family policy, welfare and family dynamics is conducted at the Linnaeus Centre SPaDE. Swedish studies are often considered particularly interesting, as sometimes we are a leading country when it comes to various changes in family demographics. Domestic partnerships in the 1960s and today's same-sex marriages are two such examples.
Close links between research and social policy also lead to great international attention outside academia. For example, successful research on the effects of the Swedish parental insurance system has inspired Germany to reform its family policy. Sources of external research funding include the Swedish Research Council and FAS (the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research). Future research projects include an extensive questionnaire study of family relations in Sweden, and hosting the international European Population Conference 2012 at the University.
Web editor:
Paul Parker
Last updated:
November 23, 2011
Source: Communications Office
