Wolfgang Lutz

Wolfgang Lutz is a Full Professor at the University of Vienna (since 2019) and a Professorial Research Fellow at the Oxford Martin School. He previously served as Director of the Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital (2002–2022), a collaborative initiative between the University of Vienna, IIASA, and the Vienna Institute of Demography (VID/OeAW). He is also Senior Program Advisor for IIASA’s Population and Just Societies Program and Acting Research Group Leader at the Social Cohesion, Health, and Wellbeing Research Group.

Education:

• PhD in Demography, University of Pennsylvania (1983)
• Habilitation in Statistics, University of Vienna
• Studies in philosophy, theology, mathematics, and statistics at Universities of Munich, Vienna, and Helsinki

His research focuses on

• Demographic dynamics, including fertility, mortality, and migration
• Population-environment interactions
• Education and human capital projections
• Global sustainable development challenges

He has conducted studies in Mexico, Africa, and Asia, and pioneered methodologies for long-term population projections.

Awards and Recognition:

• Wittgenstein Prize (Austria’s highest science award, 2010)
• ERC Advanced Grant (2008)
• Mattei Dogan Award (2009)
• Elected member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, German National Academy Leopoldina, and US National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Population

He has authored 28 books and over 200 refereed articles, including contributions to Science and Nature. His work underpins global population policy frameworks, including UN Sustainable Development Goals.