Over the last decade, Europe has experienced not only sweeping political, economic and social changes but also turbulent demographic developments which will to a great extent influence the region, its countries and their populations. The book presents a comprehensive overview of the recent demographic trends in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe focusing on such critical issues as fertility decline, changes in mortality, migration dynamics, acceleration of population ageing and negative population growth. The authors also discuss in what ways concerns with the population issues have evolved in relation to the specificity of national, historical, economic or cultural background and how these issues are being currently addressed and articulated by professional demographers, governmental authorities and broader public community.

Europe today is characterized by aging populations, changing family patterns, dropping fertility rates and mass migration. With the potentially massive ramifications this has for pensions, health, housing, transport, family relations, employment and other sectors of society, The New Generations of Europeans sets out to assess what it is to be a citizen of a growing EU and what important demographic, social, and economic issues will have to be faced by European decision makers. Edited by leading demographers and sociologists, and made up of contributions from respected researchers in the fields of population and society from different parts of Europe, it presents the results of five years of research by the European Observatory on the Social Situation, Demography and the Family. With the aid of over 100 graphs and tables and a full discussion, this book asks how numerous, fertile and long-lived the new generations of European citizens will be. The state of families, immigration and health are all examined, especially in the context of the challenges that will be faced in maintaining social cohesion. Crucially, the question of how demographic changes will impact Europe's socioeconomic infrastructure is woven throughout.

This study examines all aspects of migration, its different flows and types, such as economic, forced and ethnic, as well as its impact on economics, demography and social and cultural life. National policies on integration and naturalisation, and how they are conditioned are examined and compared. From a variety of sources (maps, statistics, first person acounts of migration life, novels, films and surveys), a web of causes and effects emerges, depicting migrant life today. In this way, the reader gains an overview and the beginning of a deeper understanding of this complex subject.

Such demographic factors in Europe as low fertility rates, high life expectancy, and the restricted immigration policy have caused European societies to age rapidly and the population of Europe will dramatically decline over the next thirty years. In comparison to Europe, the trend of aging in developing counties, for example in the Middle East and Northern Africa, presents a stark contrast. Taking into account demographic trends like aging, global distribution of the population, and migration, Europe faces increasing geopolitical challenges in the future, based on the cleavages "north versus south," "rich versus poor," and "old versus young." From a domestic point of view of Continental Europe, the demographic factors are responsible not only for a declining workforce but also for increasing retirement rates. The consequences are a decreasing GDP and increasing social welfare costs. So, further development of European armed forces in an uncertain world has to take place in this tense financial situation. Taking the goals of the European Security Strategy into account and considering the necessity that the military capabilities have to be adapted to meet a new threat scenario, this thesis tries to illustrate why Europe has to intensify its efforts of European military integration, mindful of the limitation of demography and politics.

The social, political and economic transformations experienced by the formerly socialist countries of central and eastern Europe since the beginning of the 1990s have resulted in abrupt shifts in demographic trends, whose consequences on nuptiality, fertility, mortality and migration will be significant and irreversible. The present study analyses and offers explanations about this process and compares these developments with the demographic changes that occurred earlier in western Europe. A thorough knowledge of these demographic trends offers an essential tool for social policy makers and researchers and the comparative approach of the study furthers our understanding of the underlying processes taking place in all European countries

Over the past decades Europe has witnessed fundamental changes of its population dynamics and population structure. Fertility has fallen below replacement level in almost all European countries, while childbearing behavior and family formation have become more diverse. Life expectancy has increased in Western Europe for both females and males, but has been declining for men in some Eastern European countries. Immigration from non-European countries has increased substantially, as has mobility within Europe. These changes pose major challenges to population studies, as conventional theoretical assumptions regarding demographic behavior and demographic development seem unfit to provide convincing explanations of the recent demographic changes. This book, derived from the symposium on “The Demography of Europe” held at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Rostock, Germany in November 2007 in honor of Professor Jan M. Hoem, brings together leading population researchers in the area of fertility, family, migration, life-expectancy, and mortality. The contributions present key issues of the new demography of Europe and discuss key research advances to understand the continent’s demographic development at the turn of the 21st century.