Some information about the working group

The aim of the working group is to intensify contacts between those interested in population geography issues through regular meetings, to enable a mutual exchange of information and experience and to discuss new research findings as well as the further development of theoretical and methodological issues in geographical population research. The working group also sees itself as a bridge between science and practice on issues of spatial population development, demographic change and migration.

The working group is one of around 50 geographical working groups of the German Society for Geography (DGfG). It was founded by Jürgen Bähr (Kiel), Christoph Jentsch (Mannheim) and Wolfgang Kuls (Bonn) on the occasion of the 44th German Geographers' Conference in Münster in 1983. At the German Geographers' Conference in Bochum in 1993, Paul Gans (Mannheim) and Franz-Joseph Kemper (Berlin) took over as spokespersons. After the death of his colleague Kemper, Paul Gans initially continued to lead the working group alone, then from 2014 onwards at a working group conference in Kiel together with Birgit Glorius and Rainer Wehrhahn. From 2018 to 2024, Birgit Glorius (Chemnitz) and Rainer Wehrhahn (Kiel) were spokespersons for the Population Geography Working Group. Since 2024, Mathias Siedhoff (Dresden) and Bernhard Köppen (Koblenz) have held this position.