Economist, demographer and social scientist Vegard Skirbekk
Photo: Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH)

Economist, demographer, and social scientist Vegard Skirbekk, from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and the University of Oslo, Norway, will be at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais) between March 22nd and 30th as a guest of the FUNDEP/IEAT Short-Term Chairs program. Professor Bernardo Lanza Queiroz, from the Faculty of Economic Sciences at UFMG, will also be present.

During his stay at the university, he will deliver a major lecture entitled “Population stabilization and aging: a challenge to or a precondition for economic stability?” (in English, without translation). The event will take place in Auditorium 1 of the Faculty of Economic Sciences at UFMG on March 24th, starting at 2:30 PM. To participate, registration is required through the Even3 platform. Certificates of participation will be issued.

Vegard Skirbekk explains that population aging and low fertility are often seen as indicators associated with low growth and limited economic development. At the conference, he will discuss whether these phenomena are, in fact, the key to global sustainability. To advance his argument, he will discuss the concept of “demographic winter,” which describes the decline in population renewal as a global phenomenon, and propose an alternative view that analyzes population stabilization as a precondition for economic and environmental stability.

About the professor

Vegard Skirbekk is an economist, demographer, and social scientist specializing in demographic analysis and cohort studies. He is currently a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and also a professor at the University of Oslo. Skirbekk has dedicated himself to the study of health, productivity, and their associated determinants from a multidisciplinary perspective, emphasizing the role of changes in labor market demands, technological and cultural transformations, as well as variations in the attitudes, beliefs, and skills of new cohorts. Skirbekk’s research has been published in numerous academic journals (including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), The Lancet, and Science) and has been featured in science outreach channels.