All over the world, people are living longer than ever before. Much of this improvement has been the result of simple public health interventions, resulting in plummeting mortality from infectious diseases so momentous that life expectancy increased by decades. As a result, a European newborn today can expect to live 80 years, compared with 56 years for a baby born one hundred years ago. At the same time, new challenges are emerging. The major causes of morbidity and mortality in Europe today are chronic diseases – cancers, dementia, cerebrovascular conditions, and diabetes. Continuing improvements in health and survival in the era of chronic disease will be harder, as these diseases are complex, take a long time to develop, and are often not curable. They are also intertwined with our modern lifestyles, including sedentary jobs, calorie-rich diets, and screen-focused pastimes. Additionally, climate change, such as extreme temperatures and exposure to pollutants, is bringing new challenges to health.
Our research group focuses on living long and living healthy lives. We are experts from multiple disciplines studying health and wellbeing across the lifespan. We look at healthy aging and longevity and their pathways – many of which begin early in life. Our research is bringing insights into many of today’s pressing population issues. The central themes of our research are:
- What health trajectories do people experience today, and what can be done to promote longer healthy lives?
- What are the experiences early in life that affect health and wellbeing at older ages?
What are we working on?
In our projects, we examine population processes such as aging, health and mortality, and project scenarios and policy options for the future. We are also developing novel ways to measure demographic patterns and their policy implications. Below, we provide examples of some of our impactful projects:
- Forecasting future socio-economic inequalities in longevity quantifies the future socio-economic inequalities in longevity in Europe and how policy measures might reduce inequalities.
- PREMIUM_EU – Policy REcommendations to Maximise the beneficial Impact of Unexplored Mobilities in and beyond the European Union aims to develop a Regional Policy Dashboard for national and regional policy makers to help them in the formulation of new policies aimed at the potential of migration to enhance the development of vulnerable regions.
- Impact of neighbourhood effects and socio-economic status on mental health focuses on understanding the impact of neighbourhood effects on mental health and quality of life.
- Origins and progression of chronic diseases and multimorbidity across adulthood provides population-based information on the burden of multi-morbidity across adulthood.
- FAMINE – Prenatal under-nutrition exposure and adult mortality investigates the relationship between prenatal exposure to the Dutch WWII Hunger Winter on mortality and health in later life.
- Verkenning Bevolking 2050 (Population Outlook 2050) maps scenarios about future population developments in the Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands.
