WP4: Population-Related Policies and General Attitudes

Workpackage Leader

Ismo Söderling
Population Research Institute
Helsinki, Finland

Objectives

Identification of between-country similarities and differences in terms of demographic dynamics, recent social policy reforms and attitudes of men and women regarding general social policies and demographic developments.

Description of Work

The desk review of literature and contextual analysis will be carried out in view to set stage for the comparative analysis of the interaction between population-related policies and demographic processes. It is a tool for qualitative identification of between country similarities and differences and general trends at the European level.

The main report will give a comparative analysis of the family, demographic and population policy situation at the European level and the typology of participating countries according to the welfare regimes and demographic profiles. The historical perspective will be considered in order to highlight the reasons that motivated the involvement of state and the ways in which it is currently involved. Both the scope, measured in terms of coverage and the focus, in terms of commitment will be addressed. Countries will be clustered also according to the degree of centralisation/within country regional variation in policy formulation and implementation.

The general part of the PPAS which deals with attitudes and preferences concerning government’s role in major social problems, namely care for the elderly, child care, health care, housing, labour force participation, female emancipation and reconciliation of work and family life will be analysed. The prospective dimension will be addressed by means of analysis of attitudes and preferences towards current and future demographic developments: population size, migrant numbers, population dejuvenation and greying.

Methodology

The comparative contextual analysis and the analysis of micro-level data on attitudes regarding general policies and demographic development will build on the country case studies drafted according to the common grid and guidelines regarding the use of standard multivariate methods of quantitative data analysis.