School of Demography

Low desire is one of the most common sexual problems, or ‘dysfunctions’ and it is most common in women. In this talk, Emily Harris first addresses common misconceptions about sexual desire before presenting findings from two studies of desire among women partnered with men, sampled cross-nationally. These studies test the associations between inequities in household labour, feeling like a partner’s mother, perceived unfairness, and sexual desire.

How have leading causes of death shifted by age and over calendar time, and what do the gaps between major causes reveal about population health? This talk unifies two distributional perspectives within an age–period setting: 

Fertility has been declining across most advanced economies, raising concerns about long-term economic growth, labour supply, and fiscal sustainability. Pelin Akyol and Alu Vergili's research provides the first comprehensive analysis of Australia’s Baby Bonus, a large universal cash transfer introduced in 2004, using linked administrative data that follow mothers’ fertility through 2022. The 17-year horizon allows them to distinguish between timing shifts (tempo effects) and genuine increases in completed fertility (quantum effects), overcoming a key limitation in the literature.

Over the 21st century, total fertility rate (TFR) trends across many countries have followed remarkably similar trajectories — rising until around 2008 and declining since at the fastest rate observed since the 1970s. These parallel patterns challenge traditional theories that link fertility change to national economic or social contexts.

In this talk, Professor Michelle Ryan will present research looking at three common missteps that are made when designing and implementing gender equality initiatives: (1) when we don’t go beyond describing the numbers; (2) when we try to ‘fix’ women rather than fix systems; and (3) when we are overly optimistic about the progress we have made. She will consider each of these missteps in terms, referencing a programme of research that suggests alternative ways of approaching gender equality initiatives.

Cognitive health is a critical and growing global issue, driven by population ageing and evidenced by the growing burden of dementia. Both normal ageing and neurodegenerative disease contribute to memory decline, yet longitudinal studies reveal substantial heterogeneity in these trajectories. Social integration, the networks and relationships individuals sustain, may play a critical role in protecting late-life cognitive health.

Affected by increasing life expectancies, falling fertility rates and changing migration patterns, population ageing is the culmination of demographic changes that have been underway since the start of the demographic transition. Population ageing is powerful and unrelenting, affecting healthcare systems, pension expenditure, economies, family structures and society.

Fertility patterns in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remain one of the most compelling demographic puzzles of the 20th and 21st centuries. While extensive research has explored fertility variation across the region, the role of marital dissolution and repartnering has received limited attention until recently. Yet, these are fundamental features of nuptiality regimes in SSA.

Within Families and Between Countries: The Lifespan of US Immigrants Compared to Origin, Destination and Non-Migrant Siblings in Cohorts from 1850 to 1890

Bangladesh has experienced a rapid national decline in fertility in recent decades; however, fertility rates vary considerably at the sub-national level (i.e., division). These variations are expected to be more pronounced at lower levels of geography (e.g., district level). However, routinely conducted demographic health surveys are designed for national estimates and do not have adequate samples to produce reliable estimate of fertility rates at lower levels of administrative units, particular when considering district level age-specific fertility rates.