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Guest editors: Sonja Spitzer, Vanessa Di Lego, Angela Greulich, Raya Muttarak

The 2021 special issue explores demographic perspectives on human wellbeing across time and space. While the idea of relating demographic parameters to wellbeing has been around for a while, a more concrete research agenda on the topic has gained momentum only recently. This volume gives an overview on the latest developments and shows how existing theoretical concepts and methodological tools in demography offer substantial advancements for the study of wellbeing. A large part of the volume is devoted to the challenges of defining and measuring wellbeing, with the most important debate being on whether the focus should be on objective measures like income or subjective definitions of wellbeing such as happiness. The various authors define wellbeing as health and mortality, as income, education or other resources, as happiness or life satisfaction, or a combination thereof, by introducing novel composite indicators. The volume covers wellbeing in historical and contemporary populations, in high- and low-income countries all around the world, also pointing at important research hindrances due to the lack of good-quality data in many regions. Most empirical contributions consider population heterogeneity to study how wellbeing differs by population subgroups and whether some demographic and socioeconomic groups fall behind, thereby providing important policy implications.

ISSN	1728-4414
ISSN Online	1728-5305
ISBN-13	978-3-7001-8707-3
ISBN-13 Online	978-3-7001-8784-5
Subject Area	Sociology and Economics
Quality review	refereed - online - print
doi	10.1553/populationyearbook2021

Introduction

Sonja Spitzer - Vanessa di Lego - Angela Greulich - Raya Muttarak

A demographic perspective on human wellbeing: Concepts, measurement and population heterogeneity

doi: 10.1553/populationyearbook2021.int01

Debate

Carol Jagger

Richard E. Lucas

Comparing global reports of subjective well-being to experiential measures

doi: 10.1553/populationyearbook2021.rev01

Bernard Harris

Anthropometric history and the measurement of wellbeing

doi: 10.1553/populationyearbook2021.rev02

Research Articles

David E. Bloom - Victoria Y. Fan - Vadim Kufenko - Osondu Ogbuoji - Klaus Prettner - Gavin Yamey

Is educational wellbeing associated with grade repetition and school dropout rates among Indian students? Evidence from a panel study

doi: 10.1553/populationyearbook2021.res5.2

Data and Trends

Thananon Buathong - Anna Dinitrova - Paolo Miguel M. Vicerra - Montakarn Chimmamee

Years of Good Life: An illustration of a new well-being indicator using data for Thailand

doi: 10.1553/populationyearbook2021.dat.1

All Issues

Electronic Publication/s

Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2021

Special Issue: Demographic aspects of human wellbeing

Details

A demographic perspective on human wellbeing: Concepts, measurement and population heterogeneity

EU and UK targets for healthy life expectancy – are they achievable?

Demography and well-being

Sustainable human wellbeing: What can demography contribute?

WELLBYs, cost-benefit analyses and the Easterlin Discount

Comparing global reports of subjective well-being to experiential measures

Anthropometric history and the measurement of wellbeing

Going beyond GDP with a parsimonious indicator: Inequality-adjusted healthy lifetime income

Global improvements in Years of Good Life since 1950

Mortality evolution in Algeria: What can we learn about data quality?

Gender disparities in health at older ages and their consequences for well-being in Latin America and the Caribbean

Gender and socioeconomic inequalities in health and wellbeing across age in France and Switzerland

Understanding women’s well-being in Turkey

The age U-shape in Europe: The protective role of partnership

Singles in the city: Happily ever after?

Fathers’ and mothers’ enjoyment of childcare: The role of multitasking

Well-being in Europe: Decompositions by country and gender for the population aged 50+

The life course and subjective well-being across generations – an analysis based on cross-national surveys (2002–2016)

Academic track mismatch and the temporal development of well-being and competences in German secondary education

Is educational wellbeing associated with grade repetition and school dropout rates among Indian students? Evidence from a panel study

Years of Good Life: An illustration of a new well-being indicator using data for Thailand