The Generations & Gender Programme Contextual Database: A Renewed Source of Contextual Data for Comparative Demographic Research

Arianna Caporali , Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

To understand demographic change, researchers need data on individuals’ behaviours, but also information on the contexts in which individuals’ behaviours are embedded. The Contextual Database (CDB) of the Generations & Gender Programme (GGP) supports researchers by providing cross-country comparable macro-level data on demographic, socio-economic, and policy contexts for about 60 countries. It complements the individual level data of the Generations and Gender Survey, a longitudinal comparative survey run in 20 countries in Europe and beyond. GGP is preparing a new round of data collection, starting from 2020. It will extend its geographical coverage, such as in Latin America and in Asia. The survey questionnaire and the fieldwork methodology have been revised. As part of these developments, also the CDB has been renewed. This paper focuses on advances in the CDB in view of the new round of GGP survey data collection. It aims at promoting the usage of the renewed CDB. After an overview of past developments, the paper details the new content of the CDB and the new data collection strategy. It also presents the new online tool, which was needed for technical reasons. The renewed CDB aims to be a useful support tool for researchers interested in studying demographic trends, especially in countries with low fertility, in a global perspective. The CDB offers up-to-date contextual macro-level data that can be used in conjunction with data from the GGP surveys, but also with other individual-level data. It also constitutes a valuable data source for analyses of macro-level trends.

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 Presented in Session P3. Poster Session Migration, Economics, Environment, Methods, History and Policy