Wittgenstein Center for Demography and Global Human Capital

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Wittgenstein Center for Demography
and Global Human Capital
founding 2010
place Welthandelsplatz 2
1020 Vienna
director Wolfgang Lutz
Employee approx. 75
Website http://www.oeaw.ac.at/wic

The Wittgenstein Center for Demography and Global Human Capital (IIASA, VID / Academy, WU) is a research collaboration between the in Laxenburg settled the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis , the Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Vienna University of Economics , both in Vienna . It was founded in 2010 by the demographer Wolfgang Lutz , who had just received the Wittgenstein Prize at the time.

This is the highest Austrian recognition in the field of science by the Fund for the Promotion of Scientific Research , with Lutz being the first winner from the social sciences. He used the endowment of 1.5 million euros for the creation of the Wittgenstein Center by amalgamating several existing demographic research institutes in and around Vienna, which had also previously cooperated with each other, but not under the umbrella of a common institution. These three “pillars” ( pillar institutions ) - the World Population Program of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), the Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (VID / ÖAW) as well as the Demography Department and the Research Institute for Human Capital and Development of the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) - each have different research priorities and can therefore ideally combine their strengths in the areas of demography, the formation of human capital and the analysis of the benefits of health care and education .

The aim of the Wittgenstein Center is to provide a solid scientific basis for political decisions at different levels in the interests of the well-being of all humanity in a global perspective, through a better understanding of the consequences of changing population structures and investments in human capital.

The Wittgenstein Center is currently managed by its founder, Director Wolfgang Lutz, as well as by Jesús Crespo Cuaresma (Director of Economic Analysis), Alexia Fürnkranz-Prskawetz (Director of Research Training) and Sergei Scherbov (Director of Demographic Analysis). Scientific advice and support is guaranteed by an international scientific advisory board, currently chaired by Sir Partha Dasgupta .

The three pillar institutions currently employ around 60 scientific and ten administrative staff. Two of these facilities have been under one roof since August 2015, as the Vienna Institute of Demography has moved from its old location in Vienna's 4th district to a newly built building (D5) on the WU campus on the edge of the Vienna Prater . Here, the VID works on the second floor and the two research groups of the WU on the third floor, connected by an internal demographic staircase .

On September 9, 2015, the Wittgenstein Center celebrated its move in and at the same time its fifth anniversary, together with the 40th anniversaries of both the IIASA and the VID. A symposium on "Demography that Matters" was held on this occasion.

Research areas

The Wittgenstein Center uses multidisciplinary methods to research all aspects of human capital and population dynamics to examine the effects of these variables on long-term human well-being. The main focus is on the following research topics:

The latest research results from some of the scientists working at the Wittgenstein Center, especially those on the level of education according to age and gender in 195 countries, but also on trends in fertility, mortality, migration and educational level for the major regions of the world, are published in 2014 by Wolfgang Lutz, William P. Butz and Samir KC edited anthology World Population and Human Capital in the Twenty-First Century .

The data on which these studies are based are freely available via the Wittgenstein Center Data Explorer , with which global population projections broken down by country, region, gender, age, time span and a number of other indicators can be selected and downloaded (see Link below).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of the Marie-Luise and Ernst Becker Foundation, June 14, 2011: “Austria: Wittgenstein Prize goes to demographer Wolfgang Lutz”
  2. ↑ Der Standard , January 31, 2011: “Wiener Wittgenstein Center wants to be at the top of the demography institute”
  3. ^ The "About-Page" of the Wittgenstein Center with mission statement
  4. ^ Wiener Zeitung of September 28, 2011: "Education leads to democracy" (article on the occasion of the opening symposium)
  5. ^ Education and Health: Priorities of International Development Policy. Symposium of the Wittgenstein Center for Demography and Global Human Capital in Parliament APA announcement of September 29, 2011.
  6. ↑ WU press release of September 2, 2015: "Demography: Research at the highest international level celebrates anniversary"
  7. ↑ Conversation with Wolfgang Lutz for the Wiener Zeitung on September 8, 2015
  8. ^ World Population and Human Capital in the Twenty-First Century . Oxford University Press 2014