Mitigation and Adaptation: Analyzing and Shaping Demographic Change

Demography, the statistical study of human populations, has rapidly gained importance in recent political discussions, both in individual countries and multilateral institutions. Demographic data are an excellent starting point for policymaking because they allow for long-term and reliable projections. How- ever, in most cases, demographic issues are addressed in a rather selective manner with a focus on individual topics such as pension systems, migration, or work- force development. A comprehensive view is rather rare. The lack of a holistic view and comprehensive policy approaches entail the risk of acting too late and inadequately to problems brought about by the consequences of demographic changes. The concept of mitigation and adaptation, developed and successfully applied in other fields, has great potential when applied to demographic issues. The concept does not explain demographic change, nor is it a generator of solutions. However, it can form a useful framework and heuristic approach for understanding demographic change, classifying challenges, and deriving mea- sures and policies. Precisely because the concept is not a closed model, it invites the consideration of research findings from very different fields