The demography of Europe: Introduction: Gerda Neyer, Gunnar Andersson, and Hill Kulu .- Challenges for European family and fertility research: Peter McDonald.- Welfare states, family policies and fertility in Europe: Gerda Neyer.- Delaying parenthood in East and West Germany: A mixed-methods study of the onset of childbirth and the vocabulary of motives of women of the birth cohort of 1971: Karl Ulrich Mayer and Eva Schulze.- De-standardisation or changing life course patterns? Transition to adulthood from a demographic perspective: Johannes Huinink.- Europe, the oldest-old continent: Roland Rau, Magdalena M. Muszyńska, and James W. Vaupel.- Inequalities in life expectancy between and within European countries: Jacques Vallin.- The occupational mobility of return migrants: Lessons from North America: David P. Lindstrom.- Event-history analysis: Local dependence and cross-sectional sampling: Niels Keiding.