Historical Demography V

The IUSSP Scientific Panel on Historical Demography promotes work and activities which strengthen the dialogue between historical and contemporary demographers through explorations of demographic transitions, mainly using individual longitudinal data of contemporary relevance which apply a historical perspective. Linking the past to the present with long-term longitudinal databases and methods has been at the center of much recent demographic work, and it has been at the core of the activities of the Panel on Historical Demography during the last two mandates.  These themes and approaches continue to be highly relevant: the construction of longitudinal databases based on public administrative and statistical data, linking the present to the past, carried out by research institutions from different disciplinary areas as well as by statistical offices and agencies, makes this topic and the role of historical demographers a corner stone within future population related research agendas.   

Through a series of workshops which will bring together demographers, historians, economists, epidemiologists, and social and biological scientists at the forefront of research on these issues, we hope to instigate a new wave of comparative work that crosses disciplinary, temporal and regional boundaries and which will focus on five structural issues: infectious diseases and health (with specific interest in influenza, malaria and sexually transmitted diseases); colonial populations and the changing demography of Latin America, Africa and Asia; population and space – including the use of GIS in historical demography; demography in the 20th century; and linking the past to the present with long-term longitudinal databases and methods.