1Population is now sixty years old, making it one of the oldest demographic journals still in publication. To celebrate this sixtieth anniversary, we have reprinted an article from the very first issue in 1946, alongside the first contents page and a text by Paul-André Rosental presenting the social and historical background to the journal’s creation. Comparing this inaugural issue with our first issue of 2006 gives an idea of how the discipline of demography and the concerns of society have changed over the years. And yet we are also struck by the degree of continuity in the journal’s open-minded approach. Today, as in the past, we are strongly attached to a demography centred on the social sciences, a demography based on wide-ranging methods and fields of interest, a demography that sheds light on the problems and issues affecting our societies.
2A recent key development has been the introduction of an identical English version of the journal in 2002. All issues are now published in both French (Population-F) and English (Population-E). The full English edition thus replaces the English selection (Population. An English Selection) first introduced in 1989. These changes reflect our ambition to reach a broad international audience. The circle of our authors and our readers is by no means limited to France or Europe alone.
3New sections have also been added to the journal. We have begun a tour of the world, with chronicles devoted to the demography of sub-Saharan Africa (2004), and the Arab World and the Middle East (2005). A third one on Latin America will be published in 2006. Other steps will follow, bringing us even closer to our readers. Already present in the JSTOR journal archive, Population will soon be widely available on line, both in French and in English.
