This curriculum addresses the causes and consequences of key transitions in the life course of individuals (e.g., family and fertility, migration, education, and employment) and their interrelationships with economic, social and political dynamics.

​The approach will be eminently interdisciplinary, so the concepts and tools of Demography and Social Statistics will be enriched with contributions from Sociology and other Social Sciences.

​In particular, the curriculum addresses: fertility and fecundity; family dynamics; health and mortality; aging; internal and international migration; and the relationships between population dynamics and biological, environmental, cultural, institutional, economic and social factors. These issues are addressed both by analyzing the evolution and trends of demographic aggregates (macro analysis) and by delving into the mechanisms underlying life course behaviors (micro analysis) from a comparative perspective over time and space.

​The study of life courses will be based on the application of rigorous statistical techniques: longitudinal and multilevel data analysis and causal and experimental approaches will be the foundational methodological tools. In addition, a strong emphasis is given to methodologies for survey design and to the collection, processing, analysis and integration of data from different sources and of diverse nature (e.g., textual, relational, audiovisual, geo-referenced data).