Through its research, the MDM Group aims to advance demographic modeling methods to assess and forecast population dynamics with a focus on demographic and spatial heterogeneity under different socioeconomic scenarios at the global, national, and sub-national level.

The MDM Group’s research focus is at the core of the IIASA strategic plan in rigorously incorporating the human-centered system model into systems analysis by considering the feedback mechanisms between human and other social, economic, and natural systems. The group has a strong focus on population forecasting using a scenario-based approach allowing for aligning future demographic components with socioeconomic scenarios such as the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) originally developed for the climate change research community. Apart from updating global projections of population, human capital, and other relevant dimensions using scenarios, the group also carries out innovative, policy-relevant research at the local and regional level, for instance, assessing social vulnerability to COVID-19 at a small spatial scale.

Models, tools, datasets

Mumbai, India, Passengers

Sub-national Population and Human Capital Projections

World population

Wittgenstein Centre Human Capital Data Explorer (WCDE)

Projects

Hand die durch die Wand bricht

Future Migration Scenarios for Europe (FUME)

Human Tracks

Quantifying Migration Scenarios for Better Policy (QuantMig)

People figurines on a map of Western Europe

Policy REcommendations to Maximise the beneficial Impact of Unexplored Mobilities in and beyond the European Union (PREMIUM_EU)

Staff

No image available

Bernhard Rengs

Guest Research Scholar (MDM)

Guillaume Marois profile picture

Guillaume Marois

Research Scholar (MDM)

No image available

Patrick Sabourin

Guest Research Scholar (MDM)

Michaela Potancokova profile picture

Michaela Potancokova

Research Scholar (MDM)

News

Indian girls in school uniforms at school

24 March 2023

Increasing education opportunities for girls could help reduce preventable deaths in children under five

An IIASA study shows that maternal education, and particularly secondary education, plays a significant role in reducing deaths in newborns and children under five years of age in both rural and urban areas of India.
world map made up of immigration stamps

24 January 2023

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected immigration?

New research finds a high variation between how pandemic mitigation measures affected immigration to different destination countries, from a slight increase to huge reductions.
Studienstiftung

28 September 2022

Demography matters: the human life from birth to death

IIASA researchers participate in a seminar titled "Demography matters: the human life from birth to death", organized by Vienna Institute of Demography and Wittgenstein Centre.

Events

Focus

28 November 2022

Standardizing migration data in Europe

Options Magazine, Winter 2022: Researchers illustrated the discrepancies in migration flow statistics across Europe to help standardize data and better understand migration patterns.
Regional impacts

11 July 2022

Fertile feedback

IIASA research shows that increasing access to clean energy can rein in population growth, and so reduce future energy needs. Another study finds that falling fertility does not have to be bad news for economies.
Population. Different multiethnic people of different ages. Groups of families.

24 June 2020

The gender dimension of sustainable development

Options Summer 2020: Our world is in the midst of an economic transformation as labor upheavals and climate change wreak havoc on present sustainability models. Could a focus on women’s empowerment help find a way out?
female head illustration