Demographics

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The Inflation Pain You Don't See

Official statistics don't capture the pain of inflation for many Americans. That's because there's something wrong with how we define the middle class. Far more American households earn a middle-class income than enjoy a middle-class lifestyle.

George Zuo @GeorgeWZuo

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South Korea's Extraordinary Fertility Decline

The complicated history of family planning as well as socioeconomic and political factors may all play roles in depressing birth rates in South Korea. But the nation's fertility decline is just one piece in a complicated gender puzzle.

Daniel Hicks, Jennifer Bouey @BoueyHuang, et al.

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Tracking Migration Amid War and Disease

Researchers from RAND and RAND Europe have been working on a way to better track migrant numbers, country by country and state by state, in almost real time. They do it by tapping into one of the largest information-gathering operations on the planet, Facebook.

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Extremism and Substance Use Disorder, Criminal Background Checks, Vaccine Diplomacy: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on the parallels between extremism and substance use disorder, a better way to measure recidivism risk, global vaccine diplomacy, and more.

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Could the Move Toward Zoom and Other Collaboration Technologies Due to the Pandemic Change the Very Makeup of Populations?

Collaborative technologies such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams have transformed how we work, visit the doctor, and go to school. But can they also shift demographic trends in migration, fertility, morbidity, and mortality? And if so, how?

Esther M. Friedman, Andrew M. Parker

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Most Americans Consider Themselves Middle-Class. But Are They?

There are different ways of determining who should be considered middle-class. But there is one thing they have in common: All reveal that the middle class in the United States is shrinking.

Jeffrey B. Wenger, Melanie A. Zaber @MelanieZaber

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COVID-19 Demographic Trends, Vaccinating 'High-Contact' People, the Iran Threat Network: RAND Weekly Recap

This weekly recap focuses on how the pandemic is shaping demographic trends, targeting vaccines to "high-contact" people, the Iran Threat Network, and more.

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An Early Look at the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Demographic Trends

Key demographic trends in fertility, mortality, and migration are responsible for shifts in the overall structure of any population. COVID-19 has affected each of these, with potentially important implications.

Esther M. Friedman, Andrew M. Parker

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Humans Are Living Longer, So What Do We Do with All This Extra Time?

Medical and public health improvements over the past century have led to dramatic increases in longevity. New policies may be needed to ensure these extra years become mutually beneficial to all generations.

Andrew R. Hoehn @AndyHoehn, Bonnie Hagemann, et al.

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Ink Tank: At RAND, Tattoos Sometimes Reflect the Research

Three RAND experts and one Pardee RAND student explain how their tattoos reflect their research on the problems Marines face, end-of-life care, migration-related issues, and the changing needs of the labor force.

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What Keeps Millennials Awake at Night Could Change Over Time

Millennials are less worried than baby boomers about national security topics and more worried about kitchen table issues, such as making ends meet each month and paying off debts. But this may have less to do with the fact that they are millennials and more to do with the fact that millennials are young.

Marek N. Posard @mnposard, Jennifer Kavanagh, et al.

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Millennials Worry Less About National Security Than Baby Boomers Do—for Now

Millennials are not as concerned as baby boomers are about national security. But these attitudes may be more about being young than being millennials.

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Evolving 21st-Century Workplace and the American Workforce: Trends and Policy Responses

Three trends have important implications for the future of work: a shifting demography toward older workers, more women, and more diversity; continuing technological change that will increase the demand for skilled workers; and increased globalization.

Lynn A. Karoly, Krishna B. Kumar

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The Economic Rationale for Investing in Family Planning in Sub-Saharan Africa

Proven benefits to reduced fertility — or to delayed start to childbearing and greater spacing between births — include lower maternal mortality, fewer unsafe abortions, reduced risks from early childbearing, and women's ability to engage in more income-generating opportunities.

Peter Glick, Sebastian Linnemayr

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Bridging the Global Age Gap

The Trans-Pacific Partnership offers hope for balancing the world's rapidly aging with its jobless youth. As long-term care for the elderly becomes a pressing need in many developed countries, services such as monitoring and reminding people to take their medications could be provided remotely from countries with an abundance of younger workers.

Krishna B. Kumar

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Aging in Asia: Can the 'Tigers' Continue to Roar?

Changing demographics will force Japan and the “Asian Tigers” — Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan — to find ways to remain economically dynamic while increasingly looking after their elderly. How might public policy help accomplish this?

Rafiq Dossani, Rachel M. Swanger

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Is Geographic Clustering Driving Political Polarization?

The ideological gap separating the Republican and Democratic parties in Congress has grown dramatically wider in recent decades. An analysis of the presidential vote in congressional districts over the last 60 years finds that the degree to which most districts are different from the 'average' district has grown, supporting the theory that polarization stems from geographic clustering.

James A. Thomson @thomson0145, Jesse Sussell

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Demographics Add Urgency for Action on Dementia Long-Term Care

Dementia takes a huge toll on those afflicted with it. But it also has major consequences for those who must care for them, most often family and friends.

Esther M. Friedman

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RAND Summer Institute July 7–10, 2014

Applications are being accepted now through March 21 for the 21st annual RAND Summer Institute (RSI), a pair of conferences on aging that will be held next July 7–10 at the RAND Corporation headquarters in Santa Monica.

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Could Britain See a Baby Boom?

The royal birth comes at a time when fertility in Britain is increasing after decades of decline. Today, the U.K.'s total fertility rate, a proxy for the average number of children per women in a given year, is the third highest in Europe behind only France and Ireland.

Stijn Hoorens @StijnHoorens

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The Value of Uncertainty: Assessing Global Societal Trends

When planning for the future, we should understand that the capacity to predict the future is rather limited and poor. Rather, an ability to anticipate plausible trends and their potential consequences is more realistic, writes Stijn Hoorens.

Stijn Hoorens @StijnHoorens

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The Inequality Debate

The inequality debate should focus more on the sources and reasons for inequality, and less on how much inequality there is, or how much it has changed, writes Charles Wolf, Jr.

Charles Wolf, Jr.

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Seven Billion? No Need to Panic

We cannot wish away serious ecological issues, such as the steady increase in greenhouse gases or the steady decrease in critical resources (e.g., phosphates). But population growth per se need not portend ecological catastrophe, writes Martin Libicki.

Martin C. Libicki

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Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?

In his inaugural address, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu clearly accepted his dual challenge: rebuild a city that welcomes its still-displaced residents, and make long-needed changes to attract newcomers as well, writes Melissa Flournoy.

Melissa Flournoy

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A House Divided: Polarization and Partisanship

Certainly, ideology should play a role in public policy decisions. But when many policies—regardless of their merits—are simply off-limits for ideological reasons, then the nation as a whole has a problem, writes James A. Thomson.

James A. Thomson @thomson0145

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Redefining 'Old Age': 60 Is the New 40

China's population is aging quickly.To address the issue, there are basically two options: try to slow it down; develop policies and programs to deal with whatever negative consequences there might be, writes Linda G. Martin.

Linda G. Martin

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Consequences of a Graying World

Consequences of a Graying World, in Christian Science Monitor.

Jonathan Grant, Stijn Hoorens @StijnHoorens