Research Projects

Population Politics

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Introduction

Population policies have a bad press. Although governments worldwide have pursued policies aiming to alter demographic trends, ‘population policy’ has become synonymous in Britain with notions of one-child restrictions in China. This is a shame. At their best population policies are a means for governments to pre-empt demographic challenges and respond coherently, and can be as innocuous as providing better childcare with an explicit, if not primary, aim of raising fertility. But should altering demography be a political concern at all?

An article on population politics by Mike Dixon and Julia Margo for openDemocracy is available here.

Further Information

This project has been generously supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Files

Population Politics Introduction

Population Politics Chapter 1
The first chapter of the report details extensive original research revealing for the first time the impact demographic change may have had on levels of poverty and inequality in Britain over the last 25 years.

Publications

Population Politics

Mike Dixon and Julia Margo argue that we should act now to safeguard Britain’s demographic future or risk rising levels of inequality and poverty and damage to the economy.

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