European Populations

The changing demographic landscape which Europe is facing today and in the next decades reflects the past. These changes constitute important challenges to European populations and societies. Shifts in fertility and family formation, in health, morbidity and mortality, in internal and international migration as well as changes in age structures, in households, in labour forces, and in population growth and decline, will influence the living conditions and well-being of Europe's population directly or indirectly. The demographic challenge also concerns the environment, local, regional and national developments, education, production and consumption patterns, economic competitiveness, social security, housing, employment and transport, and health and social care provisions. These issues, their mechanisms, determinants and consequences also challenge the scientific study of population. As a major forum and 'market place' for scientific demographic debate, the 1999 European Population Conference (EPC99) was organized to take up this challenge. On the threshold of the third millennium, European populations are united in diversity and face major demographic issues.

Inhalt

1. Europe and its population: the long view.- 1.1. The flawed goddess.- 1.2. Time and scale: the long past.- 1.3. Europe: concepts and limits.- 1.4. Time, space, and population: the long future.- 1.5. From the pantheon.- 2. Les nouveaux modes de planification de la famille en Europe.- 2.1. Les changements les plus significatifs.- 2.2. Les perspectives.- 3. Who is working in Europe?.- 3.1. From work to non-work: an introduction.- 3.2. General frame of reference.- 3.3. Differentiating jobs and workers.- 3.4. Individual and household features in relation to the labour market.- 3.5. The changing pattern of the labour life cycle.- 3.6. Future trends and foreseeable problems.- 3.7. A brief conclusion.- 4. Migration pressures on Europe.- 4.1. Comment on a definition which cannot be avoided.- 4.2. Objectives and contents.- 4.3. Basic trends: the global context.- 4.4. Basic trends in the old continent: can we really speak of migration pressures on Europe?.- 4.5. Issues of the late 1990s: a review of challenges faced by Europe.- 4.6. Conclusions: does Europe still need migrants?.- List of authors.