The 12th Annual Workshop on Formal Demography was held in person at UC Berkeley from June 1 – 5, 2026, with funding from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R25HD083136) and co-sponsored by the Berkeley Population Center.

About: The workshop covered classic topics in formal demography including the analysis of fertility and mortality as well as population dynamics. In addition, this year’s special emphasis topic was on the demography of population decline and aging, including formal demographic models for studying the impact of changes in fertility and the timing of population peaks. The workshop also included a session on the application of LLMs in demographic research in general and formal demography in particular.

Target population: The workshop was aimed both at those with prior demographic training and those who have not studied demography but already have quantitative skills in another area.

Curriculum: We used the fundamental tools of formal demography. Further information and course materials from the 2021-2025 workshops can be found at the links below.