Multidisciplinary Master's Programme in Demography, 120 hp

Demography is the scientific study of human populations. The main task of demography is to describe and analyse population development in various social contexts and time periods as well as to investigate causes and consequences of changing population structures (i.e. variations in the distribution of people across different ages and the proportions of men and women). Demographic knowledge is essential for social planning and for understanding how a society functions. Both the developed and the developing world and historical as well as recent times are of interest for demography. Fertility, mortality and migration, the three fundamental processes that produce and change populations, can be studied from different disciplinary perspectives (e.g. economics, geography, sociology, history, statistics, political science). The interdisciplinary character of demography is built into the master´s programme in demography, a collaboration among the departments of (in alphabetical order) economics, economic history, human geography, sociology and statistics. The aim of the programme is to prepare students for demographic research careers at an advanced level. Students will learn to describe and analyse population development in various social contexts and time periods. The programme consists of a 30-credits thesis (to be written in demography or in a field of the participating departments with specialization in demography) and 90 credits course work, of which 30 credits to be obtained in methodology. About one-third of the total credits are to be taken in demography.