The U.K.’s Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) has established a new specialist research unit, dedicated to generating demographic data about Jewish populations in Europe.

The European Jewish Demography Unit, an initiative supported by the Rothschild Foundation Hanadiv Europe, is being headed up by JPR Senior Research Fellow, Dr Daniel Staetsky, and chaired by Professor Sergio DellaPergola, who has also joined the JPR Board as a Senior Research Adviser. Professor DellaPergola is the Avraham Harman Professor of Contemporary Jewry at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of numerous books and papers on Jewish identification, antisemitism, international migration and population projections in the Diaspora and in Israel.

JPR’s strengthened focus on European Jewish demography reflects a growing sense within the Institute that it needs to do more to support Jewish life across Europe. The Unit will generate data to provide insights in several key areas, including elderly care, the development of Jewish schools and educational facilities, patterns of migration and intermarriage and assimilation. It plans to issue up-to-date Jewish population counts for every country in Europe on an annual basis, as well as specialist papers focusing on specific countries and major demographic issues, such as migration, fertility, mortality and intermarriage.