Mathias Lerch
EPFL ENAC IA GR-URBDEMO
BP 2127 (Bâtiment BP)
Station 16
1015 Lausanne
+41 21 693 62 96
Office: BP 2127
EPFL › ENAC › IA › GR-URBDEMO
Expertise
Population & development
Swiss & international demography
Data collection | linkage | quality assessment
Demographic estimation | multi-regional projection | statistical & spatial modeling
Swiss & international demography
Data collection | linkage | quality assessment
Demographic estimation | multi-regional projection | statistical & spatial modeling
Expertise
Population & development
Swiss & international demography
Data collection | linkage | quality assessment
Demographic estimation | multi-regional projection | statistical modeling
Swiss & international demography
Data collection | linkage | quality assessment
Demographic estimation | multi-regional projection | statistical modeling
Mathias Lerch heads the Urban Demography Laboratory (URBDEMO) at the Faculty of Natural, Architectural and Build Environment (ENAC), Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). To improve understanding of urban population growth, Lerch has developed multi-disciplinary research interests in the components of demographic change (mortality/health, fertility and migration), as well as in their interactions with socioeconomic and environmental developments.
Before joining the EPFL, Lerch has acted as the deputy head of the Laboratory of Fertility and Well-Being at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. He has analyzed and taught population change at various Swiss and German universities, as well as at statistical offices, often in transition countries. Since 2008, he has regularly advised national governments, United Nations entities, survey programs and NGOs on population issues and data collection.
Before joining the EPFL, Lerch has acted as the deputy head of the Laboratory of Fertility and Well-Being at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. He has analyzed and taught population change at various Swiss and German universities, as well as at statistical offices, often in transition countries. Since 2008, he has regularly advised national governments, United Nations entities, survey programs and NGOs on population issues and data collection.
2025
The Diffusion of International Migration in Cities and Rural Areas of Developing Countries
International Migration Review. 2025. DOI : 10.1177/01979183251384588.Rising International Migration of the Highly Skilled Transforms Demographic and Geographic Patterns of Flows in High‐Income Countries: The Case of Switzerland 1966–2019
International Migration. 2025. DOI : 10.1111/imig.70057.Internal Migration Over the Course of Urbanization in Developing Countries
POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW. 2025. DOI : 10.1111/padr.70014.The Impact of Migration on Age Structure Conducive to Human Development Across the Urban Hierarchy
Population and Development Review. 2025. DOI : 10.1111/padr.70033.2024
Societal Upheaval and the Contraceptive Transition
POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW. 2024. DOI : 10.1111/padr.12663.2023
Different health systems-Different mortality outcomes? Regional disparities in avoidable mortality across German-speaking Europe, 1992-2019
Social Science & Medicine. 2023. DOI : 10.1016/j.socscimed.2023.115976.Housing, street and health: a new systemic research framework
Buildings and Cities. 2023. DOI : 10.5334/bc.298.The end of urban sprawl? Internal migration across the rural-urban continuum in Switzerland, 1966-2018
Population, Space, and Place. 2023. DOI : 10.1002/psp.2621.2022
Sedimentary faecal lipids as indicators of Baltic Sea sewage pollution and population growth since 1860 AD
Environmental Research. 2022. DOI : 10.1016/j.envres.2021.112305.2021
International Migration And The Growth Of Zurich, 1836-1949
Population. 2021. DOI : 10.3917/popu.2103.0461.Socioeconomic development predicts a weaker contraceptive effect of breastfeeding
Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America (PNAS). 2021. DOI : 10.1073/pnas.2025348118.2020
International Migration and City Growth in the Global South: An Analysis of IPUMS Data for Seven Countries, 1992–2013
Population and Development Review. 2020. DOI : 10.1111/padr.12344.The emergence of birth limitation as a new stage in the fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa
Demographic Research. 2020. DOI : 10.4054/DemRes.2020.42.30.The Emergence and Diffusion of Birth Limitation in Urban Areas of Developing Countries
20202019
Regional variation in the rural-urban fertility gradient in the developing world
PLOS ONE. 2019. DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0219624.2018
Fertility Decline in Urban and Rural Areas of Developing Countries
Population and Development Review. 2018. DOI : 10.1111/padr.12220.Fertility and union formation during crisis and societal consolidation in the Western Balkans
Population Studies. 2018. DOI : 10.1080/00324728.2017.1412492.Mortality during heat episodes in Switzerland: A story of vulnerability
Building bridges. Scholars, history and historical demography; Nijmegen: Valkhof Pers, 2018.2017
On the plausibility of socioeconomic mortality estimates derived from linked data: a demographic approach
Population Health Metrics. 2017. DOI : 10.1186/s12963-017-0143-3.Periurbanization and the Transformation of the Urban Mortality Gradient in Switzerland
Population-E. 2017.International migration and city growth
2017Teaching & PhD
PhD Students
Wenxiu Du, Dorothee Beckendorff
Courses
Border Forensics
PENS-318
The course will introduce students to different forms of violence related to the existence of state borders and social boundaries, focusing on particular situations in Switzerland, and the way spatial, geostatistical analysis and architectural design can be used to document and contest this violence
Urban demography
AR-507
This course introduces theoretical developments and empirical evidence on city population change worldwide, as well as on its interactions with sustainable development. Students will learn how to identify sociodemographic profiles of cities to better serve them.