In the frontline of the backwater? The Nordic countries and the global population drama

Abstract

Backed by a long history of domestic population statistics and analysis, Nordic social science -including demography - could well be in the forefront of international scientific attention to the global drama of population dynamics and development. But this appears not to be the case. The paper is devoted to a discussion of this state of affairs. Following a brief presentation of the current state of population dynamics, it offers a few examples to show the value of a wider social science approach to the analysis of population/development relations. Dramatic features in current development are contrasted against the relative lack of engagement of demographers and social scientists today.Finally, a case is made for the strengthening of links between demography and social science in general - indeed for “population studies” as a field of joint enquiry, combining the rigor of demographic methods and techniques with the theoretical substance of the social sciences