This is an authoritative treatise on demography by one of the most original specialists in the field. It offers a systematic examination of the fundamental notions underlying the study of populations, including such factors as birth rate, immigration, ageing. It is also a rigorous presentation of the laws governing the future of populations.

A scientific director at the Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED), Hervé Le Bras is also the director of the Laboratory of Historical Demography and a senior fellow at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.
He is the author of Les Trois France, Éssai de géométrie sociale and Une autre France