![]() |
Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2025Population inequality matters
|
![]() |
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Austrian Academy of Sciences Press
A-1011 Wien, Dr. Ignaz Seipel-Platz 2
Tel. +43-1-515 81/DW 3420, Fax +43-1-515 81/DW 3400 https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at, e-mail: verlag@oeaw.ac.at |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
DATUM, UNTERSCHRIFT / DATE, SIGNATURE
BANK AUSTRIA CREDITANSTALT, WIEN (IBAN AT04 1100 0006 2280 0100, BIC BKAUATWW), DEUTSCHE BANK MÜNCHEN (IBAN DE16 7007 0024 0238 8270 00, BIC DEUTDEDBMUC)
|

Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2025, pp. 473-488, 2025/12/17
Population inequality matters
In recent years, many European countries have experienced growing disparities between urban and rural areas. These disparities are associated not only with differences in infrastructure, public goods and cultural provision, but also with heterogeneous demographic developments. In this paper, we intersect the perspectives of spatial demography, urban geography and social stratification by examining whether spatial inequalities between educational groups have increased in six European countries since the turn of the millennium. Analytically, we focus on (a) the educational composition of metropolitan and rural populations and (b) the residential patterns of educational groups. The empirical analyses using European Social Survey (ESS) data suggest that while there are no systematic changes over the two-decade study period, patterns of residential disparities differ considerably across the analysed countries. In particular, France and Sweden emerge as countries with significant differences in residential location between educational groups. At the same time, there is no evidence that the educational gradient of place of residence is stronger among the younger than the older age groups.
Keywords: Socio-spatial disparities; Settlement types; Polarisation; European Social Survey