Climate Demography

Objectives 

Climate change is increasingly recognised as a driver of demographic change, with far-reaching implications for population health, mortality, fertility, migration, and social inequality. Extreme temperatures, air pollution, wildfires, floods, and other environmental stressors interact with social, economic, and institutional contexts, shaping demographic outcomes in uneven ways across populations and places.

How does climate change and environmental exposures affect demographic processes across the life course? Which population groups are most vulnerable to climate-related risks, and how do existing social inequalities amplify or mitigate these effects? How do demographic structures, behaviours, and social structures in turn shape exposure, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity to climate change? And which policy interventions can reduce social inequalities while promoting climate resilience?

The Working Group on Climate and Demographic Change aims to address these questions by examining the relationships between climate change, environmental exposures, and population dynamics. Particular attention is paid to compound and cumulative risks, social inequalities, and institutional contexts that condition demographic responses to environmental change. The Working Group also aims to promote the use of geospatial and causal inference methods for the inquiry of such relationships.

The Working Group supports a comparative perspective, with a focus on Europe while engaging with evidence across the globe and promotes an approach that accounts for differences by gender, age, socioeconomic status, health, and place of residence. In addition, it aims to foster dialogue between researchers, policymakers, and societal stakeholders, contributing to evidence-based debates on climate resilience and demographic sustainability.

Steering Committee

Raya Muttarak

Risto Conte Keivabu

Tobias Rüttenauer

Jasmin Abdel Ghany

Emilio Zagheni

Maria Rubio-Cabañez

Activities

The Working Group aims to organize an annual conference on the topic related to Climate and Demographic change at different venues. It aims to organize a pre-conference workshop at every meeting of the EPC conference. Furthermore, it aims to organize workshops on the data sources and methods relevant for this field of study with the aim of training the future generation of climate demographers.

Becoming a member

Membership is open to individuals at all career stages. To become a member, please send a brief expression of interest including your name, institutional affiliation, keywords on research interest (max. 5), and your email to: climatedemography@gmail.com .

Upcoming events

Pre-EPC workshop: Climate Demography: Population Dynamics in a Changing Climate

Bologna, Italy | June 3, 2026 13:30–17:00

A pre-conference workshop at EPC 2026 bringing together researchers to discuss how climate change shapes population dynamics, social inequalities, and demographic processes. More information here.

 Please sign up by 1 May 2026.