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Germany experienced one of the lowest COVID-19 case-fatality rates (CFRs) in Western Europe in the first pandemic wave, and further CFR decreases in the spring and summer of 2020. However, Germany's CFR increased markedly during the second wave, becoming one of the highest in Western Europe. Furthermore, CFRs varied considerably across German federal states. The drivers of this CFR time trend and the state differences remain unclear. We aim to identify the contribution to the CFR differences across and within German states of (1) the population age structure, (2) the age structure of confirmed infection rates, and (3) the age-specific fatality. We use data documenting COVID-19 cases and deaths from the COVerAGE-DB, applying demographic decomposition methods proposed by Kitagawa and Horiuchi. The CFR decrease between spring and autumn 2020 in Germany resulted from a shift toward younger ages in confirmed infection rates and decreasing age-specific fatality. The CFR increase that followed was predominantly driven by a shift toward older ages in the age composition of confirmed infection rates. Although most of the CFR variation across German states resulted from differences in the population age distribution, differences in the age structure of detected infection rates contributed substantially to this variation. Differences in German CFRs depended mainly on the age structure of the population and the confirmed infection rates. Age-specific fatality played a noteworthy role only in CFR changes over time.

Internal migration is a key driver of patterns of human settlement and socio-economic development, but little is known about its compositional impacts. Exploiting the wide availability of census data, we propose a method to quantify the internal migration impacts on local population structures, and estimate these impacts for eight large Latin American cities. We show that internal migration generally had small feminizing, downgrading educational, and demographic window effects: reducing the local sex ratio, lowering the average years of schooling, and raising the share of working-age population due to an increased young adult population. Over time, a rise in the proportion of males and a drop in the share of the young adult population moving into cities reduced the feminizing and demographic window effects. Concurrently, a rise in the average years of schooling associated with people moving into cities attenuated the downgrading impact of internal migration on local education levels.

Dysphagia imposes a substantial economic burden on global healthcare systems due to its pervasive, high-cost nature. To comprehend this burden, we must first assess dysphagia's prevalence and incidence in the general population. Existing studies on dysphagia prevalence encompass minor symptoms, while it is the severe cases that drive significant healthcare costs. We address this knowledge gap by estimating dysphagia incidence and prevalence in the New Zealand population, projecting future demographics of affected individuals. Incidence and prevalence rates of dysphagia within specific underlying medical conditions are sourced from existing literature. Median projected population estimates from Statistics New Zealand, by age, sex, and ethnicity are used to calculate dysphagia projections. Where possible, projections by age and ethnicity are provided until 2038 and projections by age and sex until 2073. In 2020, 9300 New Zealanders are estimated to have newly developed dysphagia while 1.5% of the general New Zealand population are estimated to have been living with the effects of the condition. By 2073, the number of individuals newly diagnosed annually is projected to increase to 24,500 and the prevalence of dysphagia is projected to increase to 2.6%. These results indicate that a significant number of New Zealanders are impacted by dysphagia. This number is predicted to dramatically increase in the future, mostly due to population ageing, indicating an increased burden on society and healthcare systems. Our work provides a useful starting point for countries worldwide to assess future healthcare resource demands associated with dysphagia, assisting with healthcare provision planning.

Cross-national comparisons employed welfare state classifications to explain differences in care use in the European older population. Yet these classifications do not cover all care-related societal characteristics and limit our understanding of which specific societal characteristics are most important. Using the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement (second wave, 2006–07), the effect of societal determinants relating to culture, welfare state context and socio-economic and demographic composition on informal and formal care use of older adults in 11 European countries was studied. Multinomial multi-level regression analyses showed that, in addition to individual determinants, societal determinants are salient for understanding care use. In countries with fewer home-based services, less residential care, more informal care support and women working full time, older adults are more likely to receive informal care only. Older adults are more likely to receive only formal home care or a combination of formal and informal care in countries with more extensive welfare state arrangements (i.e. more home-based services, higher pension generosity), whereas the odds of receiving a combination of informal and formal care are also larger in countries that specify a legal obligation to care for parents. We tentatively conclude that the incorporation of societal determinants rather than commonly used welfare state classifications results in more understanding of the societal conditions that determine older adults’ care use.

On 11 March 2011, the Tohoku tsunami hit the northeastern region of Japan, causing massive damage to people and property. The tsunami was bigger than any other in Japan’s recorded history, but the damage varied by community. This research addressed the effects of socioeconomic status and demographic composition on mortality in the 2011 Tohoku tsunami using community-level data. These effects were estimated using regression analysis, taking into account a variety of potential contributing aspects at the community level, including strength of the tsunami, population characteristics, gender, age, education, household composition, evacuation methods, and occupation. It was found that the height of the tsunami and the shares of three-generation households and employees in the manufacturing industry are all positively correlated with tsunami mortality. The impacts of these factors on mortality are particularly large for the older adults.

Both sorting on public goods and tastes for segregation contribute to the persistence of segregation in America. Incorporating Schelling’s (1969, 1971) concept of “neighborhood tipping” into a two-stage equilibrium sorting model, in which both neighborhood demographic composition and public goods (e.g., environmental quality) affect households’ residential location choice, this study investigates how preferences for neighborhood demographic composition could obscure the role of exogenous public goods on segregation. The results reveal that non-white households face higher level of exposure to air pollution, suggesting the presence of environmental injustice in Franklin County, OH. Using a counterfactual scenario of switching off heterogeneous taste for environmental quality, this study identifies that sorting on Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) emissions drives little correlations between emissions and demographics. However, when taste parameters of the interactions between neighborhood demographic composition and household race are eliminated, segregation (as measured by over-exposure to households of the same race) of black and white households decreases by 7.63% and 16.36%, respectively, and own-race neighbor preferences contribute to segregation differently according to household income. These results may help explain some recent puzzles in the relationship between environmental quality and demographics.

Being currently not married is more common today than 25 years ago. Over this period relative differences in mortality by marital status have increased in several countries, mainly as a result of a sharp decline in mortality among the married. Using Finnish census data linked with death certificates, we show that these increases are not explained by the non-married population becoming more marginalized in socio-economic status or household composition. However, the increases in marital-status differences in mortality from accidental, violent, and alcohol-related causes of death in the 30-64 age group indicate that changes in the health-related behaviour of the non-married population may play a role. The public-health burden associated with not being married has also grown. At the end of the 1990s about 15 per cent of all deaths above the age of 30 would not have occurred if the non-married population had had the same age-specific mortality rates as the married population.

This article attempts to answer why autocrats of illiberal regional powers intervene in the politics of neighboring dictatorships and argues that the dictator always prioritizes his survival and thus intervenes if he perceives his survival to be under direct threat. The formal model proposes three factors that determine the level of perceived threat: demographic composition, structural similarity, and regime dynamic of autocratic countries. The authoritarian core must pay close attention to those neighboring autocratic countries that are suffering from regime change, are close to its own densely populated region, and have regime types or social structure similar to itself. Additionally, if hostile ethnic or religious groups are highly concentrated in some areas of the authoritarian core where it borders autocracies experiencing regime instability, the authoritarian core will be motivated to intervene in the domestic affairs of those neighboring countries. Using QCA and case studies, this article confirmed that whether an authoritarian core will take action against countries in geographical proximity depends on a combination of these three factors.

Considerable theoretical work has been published to date concerning the relationship between demographic composition of organizations and the performance of those firms. Indeed, under the topics of organization demography, substantial thought has been given to how demographic composition influences organization performance. Unfortunately, little empirical research has been conducted. The present research reports the results of two organization-level studies that investigated the relationship between gender diversity of organizations and their performance and hypothesized a nonlinear association. Study 1 results demonstrated support for an inverted U-shaped relationship between gender composition and organization performance, as hypothesized, and these results were constructively replicated in Study 2, thus increasing confidence in the validity of the findings. The results of Study 2 suggest that some industries might not be able to take advantage of this gender composition–firm performance relationship. Implications of these results for theory and research are discussed.

During the second half of the 20th century there was a positive relationship between single parenthood and the mother's educational level in Spain and Italy. However, several important transformations contemplated by Goode (1993) and McLanahan (2004) suggest that this relationship may have been inverted in Spain but perhaps not in Italy. The purpose of this study is to test this hypothesis. The authors used EU-SILC data from waves 2005 and 2011 and logistic regressions. They found the relationship between the mother's educational level and being a single mother is negative in Spain, while it is not significant in Italy. However, they found that for Italian mothers aged 40 and younger and mothers from northwest Italy, this relationship is also negative. By contrast, for older mothers and mothers from the islands or southern Italy, this association is positive. Meanwhile, for mothers from the central and northeast regions, the relationship between educational level and single motherhood is not significant.