Panel: Effective Responses to the Demographic Crisis Editors’ Note

The Board for the Study of Population of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA) organised a panel discussion entitled ‘Effective Responses to the Demographic Crisis’ on 15 October 2025, at the SASA Grand Hall. The event was the first organised by the newly constituted Board in its present composition and provided an opportunity to introduce the Board and highlight recent research on population phenomena relevant to the development of public policies.

The panel discussion addressed four interconnected topics: an effective model of support for parenthood, the neglect of premature mortality, migration management, and a comprehensive response to population ageing. Within these thematic areas, recent evidence relevant to public policy development was considered, with particular attention devoted to the exchange of ideas and a critical exploration of possible responses to demographic challenges.

The thematic orientation of the event was in line with the ideas set out in Academician Miloš Macura’s initiative for the establishment of the SASA Board for the Study of Population in 1982. It was envisaged that “the Board’s Programme of Work should encompass all important areas of population research, from the perspective of all relevant disciplines; that it should be comprehensive, yet sufficiently indicative; that it should highlight priorities and take into account the necessary cooperation and coordination with research in other disciplines.”1

The Board’s activities have provided essential support for the development of demography in Serbia, as well as for the development of scholarly thought regarding the state’s response to demographic challenges in Serbia. We are confident that the SASA Board for the Study of Population, in its present composition, also strives towards the same goal.

The title of the panel discussion raised two questions: why the title did not explicitly identify Serbia as the focus of discussion, and whether effective responses to the demographic crisis actually exist. Hopefully, the presentations and the discussion provided answers to these questions, at least in part. The four extended summaries and an overview of the discussion that follow offer an opportunity to further consider these questions and the issues addressed during the panel.

Footnotes

1. Šušić, M. (Ur.) (1982). Odbor za proučavanje stanovništva. U Bilten Fonda za naučna istraživanja za 1982. god (str. 158-159). Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti.