PRB

💼 Work is transforming worldwide, and the future feels unpredictable. It always has—the steam engine, the assembly line, and the internet each remade what work was and who did it.

But the pace, scale, and complexity of today's shifts mark a genuine break from the recent past. Tomorrow's workers will come from different places, face new challenges, and navigate a world simultaneously reshaped by demographics, climate, technology, and politics.

Our new visual, data-driven guide tackles four core questions:
🌍 Who will make up tomorrow's workforce?
🛠️ What skills will they need?
🛡️ What protections will they have?
🔄 What will work even mean in a world being remade in real time?

In 9 charts, we paint a clearer picture of what to expect—from Africa's rising share of the global labor force, to the growing healthcare worker shortage, to how AI exposure varies sharply by country.

Swipe through a few highlights below, then dig into everything here: https://bit.ly/FutureofWorkChartbook

✈️ 🇸🇳 Next week, we're heading to Senegal for the 2026 NTA Africa Conference.

*** New to the world of NTA? National Transfer Accounts track how people of different ages produce, consume, and share economic resources—showing how working-age adults support children and older adults through the economy. NTA data is helping policymakers understand:

🏥 Pensions, health care & education spending

🏠 How extended families and social institutions support people

♀️ Women's full economic contributions (including unpaid work)

📊 The impact of population aging on societies and economies***

As co-organizer of the conference alongside CREG Center, PRB will help shape the use of evidence for better public policy. Through our Counting Women's Work initiative, our team will lead discussions on strategic policy communication, financing care policies, and translating evidence into budgeting and decision-making.

Here's how to find us:

🟣 Events: We're facilitating three plenary sessions and an interactive side event exploring how research, communication, and dialogue can move care economy issues from recognition to institutionalization.

🟣 Resources: We'll also be launching a new set of practical resources to help policymakers, researchers, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders use evidence to advance care policies.

If you'll be there, too, we'd love to connect. Regardless, stay tuned for a preview of our new resources.

🍎 Teachers know good data when they see it—and they put it to work.

Katelyn Dodd, a high school teacher in South Carolina, keeps the World Population Data Sheet on her classroom wall. For her AP Human Geography students, it's a hands-on introduction to statistical analysis, data visualization, and critical thinking.

The 2026 World Population Data Sheet arrives this fall. The free resource provides an authoritative synthesis of global population data at a time when many of the systems that produce this data are under severe strain.

🔗 Sign up to be the first to receive it: https://www.prb.org/resource/2026-world-population-data-sheet/

📰 PRB in the News: Our Mark Mather spoke with CNN's Deidre McPhillips about possible drivers of the record-low death rate—and record-high life expectancy—in the United States, according to new 2025 CDC data.

"As we see a dramatic decline in drug overdose among younger adults, that will have a more measurable impact on life expectancy at older ages and the overall life expectancy of the population," he said.

Full story at the link below. 👇

US life expectancy on track to reach record high as death rate falls to record low in 2025 | CNN New mortality data from the federal government suggests that life expectancy probably hit another record high in 2025, as death rates have continued to fall since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

📣 Our RFP for website hosting and development support closes soon! And the deadline for questions is tomorrow (7/17)!

Web agencies looking to be a proactive partner in making a difference should be sure to check out the full details here: https://www.prb.org/jobs-fellowships-rfps/

We put our 2025 story into two pages.

Federal funding cuts. Record proposal volume. Award-winning tools. A beloved resource rescued by our community.

Swipe through — or read the full report at https://www.prb.org/resource/2025-prb-annual-report/

ICYMI: For World Population Day, we brought you exclusive insights on some of demography's biggest questions—from the experts who understand them best.

⤵︎ Check out key takeaways in the slides, or read the pieces in full: ⤵︎

⭐ On depopulation, by Toshiko Kaneda and Yuko Hara: https://www.prb.org/news/beyond-residents-and-tourists-kankei-jinkou-and-japans-response-to-depopulation/

⭐ On immigration, by Mark Mather: https://www.prb.org/news/immigration-is-saving-fewer-u-s-counties-from-population-loss/

⭐ On young adulthood, by Robert Crosnoe and Shannon Cavanagh:
https://www.prb.org/news/young-adults-have-the-same-dreams-as-their-parents-the-path-there-looks-nothing-like-it/

⭐ On global migration, by Apoorva Jadhav: https://www.prb.org/news/pulling-back-the-curtain-on-migration-trends/

⭐ On life expectancy, by Jennifer Dowd: https://www.prb.org/news/progress-stalled-what-if-improving-life-expectancy-isnt-guaranteed/

Why are birth rates falling in so many different countries at once, even ones with very different cultures, economies, and political systems?

For World Population Day, PRB President & CEO Jennifer Sciubba joined Australia's ABC listen Saturday Extra to dig into this complex question. One thing she highlights: it's not that people have stopped wanting kids. It's more about what's standing in the way.

She also walks through how different countries are experiencing this shift on different timelines, and why the politics around it get complicated fast, regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum.

Have a listen:

Trends in global population - ABC listen 8.3 billion and counting - that's the UN's best estimate on how many people live on the planet when it marks World Population Day this Saturday. But while the Earth's population is growing quickly, the growth rate is starting to slow down. What are the implications ?

🌟 For the final piece in our World Population Day Insights series, we asked a leading thinker about one of the most fundamental issues in demography: life expectancy. What do the data really show about our progress?

"For over a century, improving life expectancy has been a bright spot in the human story," writes Jennifer Dowd, demographer, epidemiologist, and author of the popular Substack Data for Health . "But the march has become more of a crawl."

But there are reasons for optimism—even in the short term. "For better and for worse, population mortality remains remarkably responsive to social conditions," Dowd continues. "The continued life expectancy gains of high-achieving countries like Japan and South Korea show us that there is still much room for improvement—and that the shortfalls seen in many places are likely due to human-made social factors rather than biological limits."

⭐ Read "Progress Stalled: What If Improving Life Expectancy Isn't Guaranteed?": https://www.prb.org/news/progress-stalled-what-if-improving-life-expectancy-isnt-guaranteed/

🌟 The fourth piece in our World Population Day Insights series examines one of the most contested topics in global demographics: migration.

"True demographic and economic stability depends on a shift toward evidence-based policy that treats human mobility not as a flashpoint to be weaponized, but as a strategic asset in a volatile century."

⭐ Read "Pulling Back the Curtain on Migration Trends" by PRB Senior Fellow Apoorva Jadhav: https://www.prb.org/news/pulling-back-the-curtain-on-migration-trends/