Demographic processes: Past, present and future - Selected issues

Abstract

This papers refers to demographic processes in the period from the 19th century through to the present and tries to define what they will look like in the future. Demographic trends i.a. relating to fertility, mortality, migrations, the process of family-union-household formation and dissolution, and the process of population ageing, are described by the concepts of demographic transformations: first, second and third. The transformation of demographic trends has coexisted and will coexist with globalization processes, though the scope of the mutual influence changes over time. Despite the fact that it takes place in various geographical regions, the transformation of demographic trends is characterised by high cultural diversity and socio-economic development.