New research is needed to understand how the ongoing changes in children's early environment affect their development, their health and their socialization. The multiple factors involved and their numerous interactions make this type of research particularly complex. The best way to track...

Employers' family-friendly policies generally take the form of financial support rather than benefits in kind. Occasional benefits and services are much more common than those granted on a regular basis. Corporate day care centres are still very rare, for example, despite the fact that employers...

Researchers have developed demographic surveillance systems in several specific regions of Africa. Their purpose is to provide accurate local data, in addition to that of national censuses and surveys, with a view to understanding the mechanisms behind demogra-phic and health trends. This is...

Physicians are increasingly faced with medical decisions liable to hasten the death of very old patients. According to the Eureld survey conducted in six EEuropean countries, medical decisions of this type occur in between a quarter and a half of deaths. In most cases, they concern potentially...

In France, almost half of deaths (48% in 2010) are preceded by a medical decision that may hasten death. But only in 1% of cases are drugs administered to deliberately end life. The large majority of decisions taken are based on the provisions of the Leonetti Act, which enables physicians, under...

The initial findings of the 2011 census of India, whose content, organization and data processing methods have been updated since the previous census, suggest that population growth has slowed since 2001 (mean annual growth of 1.64% versus 1.97% between 1991 and 2001) and that literacy has...

While economic slowdowns generally result in fewer births, the total fertility rate in France continued to increase in 2010 (2.00 children per woman versus 1.99 in 2009). The most recent recession occurred at a time when fertility was rising in most western nations. The recession reversed this...

The United States has the highest number of immigrants (foreign born persons) in the world, with a total of 43 million, six times more than Saudi Arabia (7.3 million) or Canada (7.2 million). However, relative to their population size,the two latter countries have twice as many immigrants: 28%...

Fertility fell rapidly in OECD countries in the second half of the twentieth century, a period marked by continuous economic growth in these regions of the world. A trend reversal has been observed in the last decade, however, and fertility hasstarted rising again in the most developed countries...

The world population is ageing. Now that families are get-ting smaller and people are living for longer, the proportion of adults and old people is increasing while the proportion of young people is declining. Unless large families once again become the norm - an unrealistic long-term option,...