This database presents the main demographic indicators of the countries of Europe and North America, of Japan, Australia and New Zealand, often as far back as 1900 or 1950. The data generally correspond to the national territories defined by the current frontiers. There are a few exceptions however:

- Germany: frontiers of the period from 1922 to 1943; current frontiers from 1950; West Germany (former FRG) and East Germany (former GDR): frontiers of the period
- Poland: frontiers of the period up to 1938
- Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and former Yugoslavia: frontiers of the period

You can access the data either by selecting a theme for a country ("Multiple indicators for one country"), or by choosing a single indicator and selecting the countries that you are interested in ("One indicator for various countries").

This database was created with the help of Catherine de Guibert-Lantoine. Please send your remarks to Alain Monnier (monnier@ined.fr).

Sources

National statistical publications. Most developed countries publish statistical yearbooks including a chapter on population giving data on population structure and changes. Many countries also publish demographic yearbooks containing detailed datasets on population structure and the main demographic phenomena (nuptiality, fertility, mortality, migration, etc.). Monthly (or quarterly) statistical bulletins giving crude data on the number of marriages, births, deaths and population size are also often produced, enabling researchers to monitor current demographic trends without waiting for the yearbooks to be published. The INED library has a large collection of these different publications.

European Demographic Observatory (EDO). The EDO collects and processes demographic data for around fifty industrialized countries. It uses standardized methods to calculate many of the data series presented here.

International demographic yearbooks. The United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union publish demographic yearbooks containing data on major groups of countries. They are also available at the INED library.

Research work

* Henri Bunle: Le mouvement naturel de la population dans le monde de 1906 à 1936, Editions de l'INED
* Fabienne Daguet: Un siècle de démographie française: structure et évolution de la population de 1901 à 1993, Paris : INSEE, 1995
* Patrick Festy: La fécondité des pays occidentaux de 1870 à 1970, Editions de l'INED, 1979
* Thomas Frejka and Jean-Paul Sardon: Childbearing trends and prospects in low-fertility countries: a cohort analysis, Dordrecht ; Boston ; London : Kluwer academic publishers , 2004
* F. Rothenbacher: The European Population 1850-1945, Palgrave 2002