Federal Institute for Population Research

Population Policy Acceptance Study (PPAS)

The Viewpoint of Citizens and Policy Actors Regarding the Management of Population Related Change

The Population Policy Acceptance Study (PPAS) is a comparative survey of European attitudes and opinions concerning demographic changes, demographic behaviours and population-related policies.

The first survey was initiated and coordinated by Hein Moors (Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute) and Rossella Palomba (National Institute of Population Research, Italy). The coordinators suggested to Miroslav Macura (UNECE) to initiate a multi-country collaborative project designed to conduct population-related policy acceptance and attitude surveys. The first wave (PPA 1) was carried out in several European countries (Austria, Belgium, the former Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland) in the beginning of the 1990s.

In Germany, the first survey was conducted in 1992, along with the Family and Fertility Survey (FFS). About 10,000 men and women in the former East and the former West Germany between the ages of 20 and 39 were asked about family policy, its impact and expectations for future family policies.

During the 1999 European Population Conference in The Hague an informal meeting of the PPAS group was held. Stressing the good experiences of PPA 1, the main result of this meeting was to carry out a second round (PPA 2). PPA 2 was coordinated by Charlotte Höhn, then director of the BiB in Wiesbaden, Germany. The second survey was conducted in 2003. National resources were used to gather micro-level data in each country.

In Germany, PPA 2 was conducted in the first half of 2003. This time, 4,000 men and women from eastern and western Germany aged 20 to 74 were surveyed. The range of questions was extended to include issues of ageing, immigration, integration as well as intergenerational relationships and gender roles.

The German data of the Population Policy Acceptance Study can be accessed at GESIS under the study number ZA4653.

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