With the creation of the European Union and the break-up of the former Soviet Union, the last few years have witnessed great ferment in European political and social change. In the European Union, convergence in economic arrangements might be expected to lead to greater demographic similarity between member states - but the reverse seems to be the case.

By contrast, the distinctive demographic features established in Eastern Europe under communism are becoming less apparent as the population adjusts to new political and economic regimes.

This book presents an up-to-date picture of Europe's population - East and West - with nine papers by internationally known authors covering all its major aspects. An introductory chapter by the editor describes the variety of birth rates in Europe's populations, from the astonishingly low birth rates in the Mediterranean countries to the growing birth rates of Scandinavia.

Other chapters compare European trends in immigration, mortality, and family formation and dissolution, fully supported by numerous figures and tables.

The remaining chapters consider some of the causes and consequences of these trends: the extent to which changes in family formation and living arrangements are affected by economic pressures or by the spread of new values; the influence of family policy on the birth rate; the consequences of demographic change in the ageing of Europe's population and its numerical stagnation and possible future decline.