Statistical associations between late reproduction and female longevity led to speculations that a late birth increases a mother's life span. The database used here includes all descendants of King George I of England (1660-1727) and his wife, Sophie Dorothea (1666-1726), born in the royal...

Possibly the greatest challenge for an evolutionary explanation of demographic transition is the fact that fertility levels universally start to fall first among the well-to-do, well-educated, healthy classes, which can be explained only by some voluntary or at least adaptive action. The problem...