The Demographic Tragedy of Ukraine: A Second Holodomor?[1] Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may be sealing the tragic fate of a country’s demographic. Although it is unknown how this war will evolve or when and how it will end, it is already substantially impacting the population of Ukraine, in part because of Russian ambitions to seize part […]
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The power of data to enable the future of mobility
Seismic shifts are afoot in the transportation and mobility sector. This is a time of profound transformation in the choices we have (or don’t have) about the way we move, and with transformation come new opportunities and challenges. Mobility, defined as the movement of goods and people, is a key enabler of freedom and access. […]
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed rifts in intergenerational solidarity (which are driven partly by demographic change)
In The Great Leveler, a book that attracted considerable attention, historian Walter Scheidel argues that throughout human history, deadly pandemics have been one of four events/triggers (along with large-scale wars, state failure, and revolutions) that tend to bring greater equality. According to him, the Black Death pandemic of the mid-14th century wiped out about a […]
COVID-19 Data: What are we counting?
How many people have been infected by SARS-CoV-2? How many deaths have occurred? Nobody really knows the exact figures. There is a consensus that data on the number of COVID-19 pandemic cases and deaths are far from being exact. Additionally, in most cases, what is available for most users in national and international databases, dashboards, […]
Once upon a time people wanted to have kids (Part II)
Why would you have kids in a coronavirus-affected world? When the coronavirus struck us we were living already in ‘interesting times’ regarding how people planned and structured their family lives, as described in Part I of this post. So, many of you may be asking yourselves what the implications on fertility from this pandemic could […]
Once upon a time people wanted to have kids (Part I)
Imagining a world permanently fighting against a fertility drought. What would happen if suddenly women and couples decided not to have kids anymore? What would happen if none of the rationales that researchers have identified as the main reasons why people want to have kids, such as helping parents with family or agricultural tasks, supporting […]