The Life Scientific

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

BBC Radio 4 FM

The Life Scientific: Professor Sarah Harper on how population change is remodelling societies.

Professor Sarah Harper on how population change is remodelling societies.

BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific, Professor Sarah Harper on how population change is remodelling societies.

Jim Al-Khalili talks to Professor Sarah Harper about societal ageing and falling fertility

Jim Al-Khalili discusses how ageing populations and falling birthrates could change the world with Professor Sarah Harper from the Oxford University Institute of Population Ageing.

People around the world are living longer and, on the whole, having fewer children. What does this mean for future populations? Sarah Harper CBE, Professor in Gerontology at the University of Oxford, tells presenter Jim Al-Khalili how it could affect pensions, why it might mean we work for longer, and discusses the ways modern life is changing global attitudes to when we have children, and whether we have them at all. Fertility and ageing have been Sarah's life's work and she tells her story of giving up a career in the media to carry out in-depth research, and going on to study population change in the UK and China, setting up the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing and later becoming a Scientific Advisor to UK Government.

Presenter: Jim Al-Khalili
Producer: Tom Bonnett

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Podcasts

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Life Scientific

Professor Sarah Harper on how population change is remodelling societies.

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4