World Population Program

Since the early days of IIASA, the World Population Program (POP) has conducted research into both the determinants and consequences of population trends at the global, regional, national and sub-national levels.

While POP has a firm foundation in formal demography, its research has greatly benefited from the interdisciplinary setting at IIASA, which has been a constant stimulus to look beyond demographic boundaries at "the whole picture" relating to human population. 

Interdisciplinary working allows researchers not only to look at the effect of a number of alternative future population trends but also how changes in society, economy, and the natural environment influence the health and mortality, migratory patterns, and reproductive behavior of human society.

Since 2011 POP is part of the Wittgenstein Centre, a collaboration between IIASA, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the University of Vienna. By bringing together the strengths of all three pillars, the Wittgenstein Centre is a world leader in expanding demographic methods in order to be more relevant for the analysis of contemporary global challenges.