Life Course and Ageing

The Chair of Population Studies focuses on demographic and health outcomes over the life-course in the context of population ageing.

Europe currently has the highest proportion of older people in the world and is expected to continue this leading position over the next 50 years. Comparable to all other Western-European countries, the demographic changes in Germany are characterized by a progressively declining and low birth rate as well as a continuing increase in longevity. Recent extrapolations by Eurostat predict that there will be a dramatic increase of the "oldest old" people above 80 years within the next 15 years, while the proportion of persons within the active age between 15 to 64 years will decrease.

It goes without saying that an ageing population will challenge society as well as the individual on several dimensions. Out current and future research dedicated to population ageing and the life course emphasizes the following topics:

• Institutional and structural effects on late careers
• Intergenerational relations
• Health inequality over the life course