Over the last decades, the Brazilian population has passed by many important demographic changes. From a stable and young age group during the 1970s, the age composition of the population has gradually changed into a higher concentration of older groups. This transformation in the population age structure has considerable effects in the socioeconomic conditions of the population and life quality in general, directly affecting the supply and demand for health and education services, besides the great impact over the work market and the economic productivity.

The works of this thematic area shall cover matters concerning the impacts of demographic changes (migration, change in the age structure, health transition, education and labor force transition) in the elaboration and application of policies. The past and future perspective of the demographic dynamics will be evaluated (fertility rate behavior, mortality, morbidity, migration and mobility), as well as the resulting population structure of this process, which shall contribute to define potential interventions in the public policies. The preferential areas for analysis, under the demographic dynamics perspective, are: health, education, labor market, infrastructure access (sanitation and transportation), housing, and environmental quality (leisure areas, environmental preservation and population in areas of social and environmental risks). The analysis will take into consideration the household and family dynamics, since a great part of the social demands, and health and education investment decisions are decided collectively within the families.

Under the evidence that the elaboration of social and population scenarios is important to evaluate the life conditions of the population and for properly intervene with public policies, the studies aim to characterize the adaptation capacity and the vulnerability level of the population within space and time, contributing for identifying risky population groups in need of targeted intervention policies.

Additionally, it is widely known that changes in the population age groups go hand in hand with changes in its epidemiological profile. This fact alters the supply of services in older populations, which live with different morbidity profile. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the causes of death and morbidity evolution of the population, as the places those individuals look for medical assistance, and the variations that may affect this supply and demand interaction through demographic dynamics.

The fields of research will hence be grouped into great areas: demographics, economy, land use, water supply, agricultural productive capacity and energy supply, considering the central topics: (i) population projection of the RMBH by age and gender; (ii) municipal projection; (iii) household projection and structure; (iv) analysis of the spatial mobility in the RMBH; (v) evaluation of the quality and conditions of life in the RMBH.