The Center for Demographic Research (DEMO) brings together specialists in population issues. Its origins date back to 1963, with the creation of the first Demographic Research Group at the Catholic University of Louvain. The DEMO Centre is part of the IACCHOS Institute (Institute for the Analysis of Change in Contemporary and Historical Societies) and the ESPO Faculty (Faculty of Economic, Social, Political and Communication Sciences). Academics in DEMO participate in the organization and teaching of the Master's degree in Population and Development Sciences, and in the Minor in Population and Development.
The DEMO Centre has about forty members, including about fifteen doctoral students. Involved in numerous international and national projects and networks, researchers in DEMO develop fundamental and applied research on demographic issues in high-income countries, but also in the Global South. Their methodological skills range from the organization of surveys, the analysis of imperfect demographic data, the use of mixed methods, population projections and microsimulation, to the use of Health and Demographic Surveillance Sites and population registers.
Members of the DEMO lead research on intergenerational relations and family development, international migration and integration, internal migration and health, fertility transitions and gender relations, urban and demographic transitions over time, or consumer practices with a direct impact on the environment. They participate in the elaboration of population perspectives, both in developed and developing countries and work as experts in various technical groups. The members of DEMO are part of editorial boards of several demographic journals, and actively participate in the organization of international conferences. Since 1974, the Centre has organized each year the Quetelet Seminar, an international demographic conference. The articles of the Quetelet Seminar are published in the Quetelet Journal since 2013.