Vienna Institute of Demography

What Vienna Institute of Demography does

The Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) is a research institute within the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Austria's national academy. It operates from its headquarters at Postsparkasse, Dominikanerbastei 16, 1010 Vienna, and is led by Director Marc Luy, who joined VID in 2008 and assumed the directorship in November 2023. The institute conducts demographic research focused on health, ageing, and longevity, with particular emphasis on understanding causal mechanisms behind differential health and mortality outcomes across gender, socio-economic status, health behaviors, and life course factors. VID maintains approximately 6 employees and a substantial publication record including approximately 100 research articles, 8 monographs, 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, and 35 book chapters.

The institute's core research programs include DELAG (Determinants of Longevity and Ageing in Good Health), a framework analyzing health and mortality differentials, and the Cloister Study, a longitudinal demographic-epidemiologic study tracking morbidity and mortality among approximately 12,000 Catholic order members from 12 monasteries in Bavaria, Austria, and Germany. VID also maintains dedicated public knowledge platforms including lebenserwartung.info (German life expectancy data), cloisterstudy.eu, delag.eu, and demographie.at (university course support). The institute's methodological contributions include indirect estimation techniques for subpopulation life expectancy, life table analysis, tempo effects and adjustment methodologies, and longitudinal survival analysis. Key research findings include establishing that biological factors cause not more than approximately one year difference in life expectancy between sexes, and demonstrating that large sex differences in life expectancy are driven primarily by high non-biologically caused male mortality rather than low female mortality.

VID operates as a publicly funded academic research institute with no commercial revenue model and sells no products or services. Funding comes from Austrian Academy of Sciences institutional support and competitive European Research Council grants, including an ERC Starting Grant (2010) for the HEMOX project and an ERC Consolidator Grant (2016) for the LETHE project. Research outputs are disseminated freely through peer-reviewed publications (Demography, Population and Development Review, Population Studies), conference presentations (97 invited, 85 international, 22 national), university teaching at the University of Vienna and WU Wien, and the institute's dedicated research websites. The institute's primary audiences are academic researchers and demographers, university students, and government policymakers.

Name

Vienna Institute of Demography

Legal name

Vienna Institute of Demography

Website

https://marcluy.eu

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Vienna Institute of Demography is a public research institute within the Austrian Academy of Sciences conducting demographic research on health, ageing, and longevity, including the longitudinal Cloister Study of Catholic order members and the DELAG research framework.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Demographic Research

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

akta.pro primary industry

Health Statistics & Reporting (National/State/Local Indicators) (HLAJAJAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Data Linkage, Registries & Longitudinal Cohort Surveillance (HLAJANAM), Mortality, Cause-of-Death Coding & Excess Death Analysis (HLAJAJAG)

Keywords

• Demographic research
• Mortality analysis
• Longevity studies
• Population health
• Health expectancy

Headquarters

HQ city

Vienna

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Institutional Research Funding: Core funding from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW) as a public research institution
2. European Research Council Grants: ERC Starting Grant (2010) and ERC Consolidator Grant (2016) funding for specific research projects on health and longevity

Go-to-market motion1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Vienna Institute of Demography conducts academic research on demographic trends and differentials in health, mortality, and longevity, anchored by the DELAG research program and the Cloister Study longitudinal study. It disseminates findings through peer-reviewed publications, dedicated data platforms (lebenserwartung.info, delag.eu, cloisterstudy.eu), and university teaching at the University of Vienna and WU Wien, supported by core funding from the Austrian Academy of Sciences and European Research Council grants.

Product overview

The Vienna Institute of Demography conducts research-focused activities rather than commercial product offerings. Its core research programs include DELAG (Determinants of Longevity and Ageing in Good Health), which investigates health and mortality differentials through various demographic methods, and the Cloister Study, a longitudinal study examining health, ageing and longevity based on Catholic order members' data. Supporting platforms include lebenserwartung.info for German life expectancy data, demographie.at for educational content, and regular seminars like the VID Brown Bag Lunch. The institute's work centers on publishing scientific research rather than delivering packaged software products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DELAG (Determinants of Longevity and Ageing in Good Health) A research program focused on understanding the causal mechanisms that enable some people to live longer and healthier than others, analyzing differentials in health and mortality by gender, socio-economic status, health behaviors, and life course factors. The program is targeted at academic researchers and policymakers in demography and public health.
• Cloister Study (Deutsch-Österreichische Klosterstudie) A demographic-epidemiologic longitudinal study investigating health, ageing, and longevity mechanisms based on the morbidity and mortality experiences of Catholic order members, including the COMMS (Catholic Order Members Mortality Study) and HEMOX follow-up project. The study covers nearly 12,000 order members across multiple decades and is targeted at academic researchers in demography, epidemiology, and public health.
• lebenserwartung.info A German-language internet platform providing comprehensive information about trends and differences in life expectancy in Germany, including regularly updated data and figures on conventional and tempo-adjusted life expectancy by gender, geographical region, and socioeconomic status, mainly based on the institute's own calculations and studies. The platform is targeted at academic researchers, journalists, policymakers, and the informed German-speaking public.
• demographie.at Educational website supporting university lectures on demography at the University of Vienna and the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien), including course programs delivered in English and German. Targeted at graduate and doctoral students in demography, epidemiology, and global health.

Quantifiable outcome

• Established that biological factors cause not more than approximately one year difference in life expectancy between sexes
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• REVES (International Network on Health Expectancy and the Disability Process)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDirector Marc Luy serves on the Executive Committee of this international network focused on health expectancy measurement and the disability process. The network facilitates collaboration among researchers worldwide working on health expectancy.
• Population Europe (Research Centres Network)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMarc Luy serves on the Council of Advisors of Population Europe's Research Centres Network, a consortium of European demographic research institutions.
• SHARE BERLIN Institute GmbHminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMarc Luy serves on the Board of Trustees of SHARE BERLIN Institute, which manages the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe.
• Austrian Advisory Board on Gene TechnologyminorOthersMarc Luy serves as alternate member of this Austrian government advisory body.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• UN Population Division (UN DESA): Global authority on demographic statistics, producing World Population Prospects and official mortality estimates. Operates at much larger scale and broader scope than VID but overlaps in life-expectancy measurement, mortality coding, and population projections for international policy use.
• Population Reference Bureau (PRB): US-based nonprofit that analyzes global demographic data and communicates findings to policymakers, educators, and journalists. Analogous in mission — translating demographic research for policy and public use — though broader in geographic scope and operating as a communications-focused nonprofit rather than a research institute.

Direct peers

• Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital: Vienna-based research consortium (IIASA, VID's parent ÖAW, and University of Vienna) focused on demographic forecasting and human-capital research. Direct overlap with VID in demographic methods, Vienna location, and ÖAW affiliation; comparable in scale and academic positioning.
• Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI): Leading European demographic research institute within the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Comparable academic positioning, similar focus on mortality and health differentials, and competing for the same pool of European demographic research grants.
• Institute for Sociology and Demography, University of Rostock: Marc Luy's prior academic affiliation (1998-2001 doctoral, 2004-2008 junior professor), focused on demography and social statistics. Comparable in research focus on mortality differentials and demographic methods, and continues to produce demography graduates feeding into the European research network.
• International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA): Laxenburg-based international research institute with major population and demographic programs. IIASA shares VID's Austrian public-research context, pursues demographic modeling and forecasting work, and overlaps via the Wittgenstein Centre collaboration.
• SHARE Berlin Institute GmbH: Manages the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), a major European longitudinal dataset on aging populations. Marc Luy sits on SHARE's Board of Trustees; both organizations focus on health expectancy and aging research with overlapping methodological approaches.
• Centre for Demographic Studies (CED), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona: Spanish demographic research center with strong focus on mortality, longevity, and health differentials. Comparable in scale and methodological orientation, frequently publishing in the same top demographic journals as VID.
• Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB): Germany's national demographic research institute, where Marc Luy worked as a research scientist from 2002-2004. BiB is a direct peer in mortality, fertility, and population-policy research with strong German-speaking-Europe focus.
• Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR): The largest dedicated demographic research institute in Europe, also focused on health, mortality, and longevity research. MPIDR is the most direct comparator — both organizations publish in the same top journals, compete for the same ERC grants, and share methodological approaches to longitudinal cohort analysis.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vienna-institute-of-demography

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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