Europes Population

Abstract

First Published in 1995. In the final decade of the twentieth century, two common themes of public debate and of academic discussion in the social sciences have concerned futures research, and the European scene in the context both of developments in the European Union and of post-Cold War changes in other parts of the continent. At the 1992 Annual Conference of the Institute of British Geographers, the Population Geography Study Group organized a session on the future of population change in Europe, bringing together these two major themes in the context of demographic change. The aim of Europe’s population: towards the next century is to contribute to informed discussion of the demographic futures of Europe as a whole. The whole range of population geography is covered, including considerations of fertility and mortality, household and family structures, labour-force issues, population redistribution and international migration. The authors were each asked to look to the year 2000 and, where possible, beyond. The approach adopted eschews highly technical projections, instead highlighting issues and alternative scenarios within general contexts of societal and economic evolution. The authors have been drawn from several European countries, and the intended coverage is Europe-wide, although in certain chapters the paucity of current data from some countries (especially in eastern Europe) narrows the discussion to the countries of the European Union.