We start the lecture with a look into the period from 1300 to 1800 and investigate the Malthusian theory of population and the question to which degree the Great Plague affected mortality, fertility and income per person. Then, we move to the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, when Western countries experienced a massive decline in fertility and mortality rates, and analyze the driving forces behind this great demographic transition. In the second half of the 20th century, we observe a further decline in fertility, which is often ascribed to the emergence of the birth control pill. At the same time, education and female labor supply substantially rose, and the age at which people married increased. We analyze these developments using Becker’s theory of fertility (quantity-quality trade-off), Katz and Goldin’s economic theory of the pill as well as theories of the division of labor within families and (female) labor supply and a rich set of empirical studies on these issues. In recent decades, family policies have been adapted to enhance the reconciliation of work and family life and thus support females’ position in the labor market. Apart from analyzing the impact of these policies, we aim at understanding to which degree discrimination still weakens women’s position in labor markets. Finally, we put the focus on international migration which plays an important role in population dynamics and changing labor markets. Here, we first use Roy’s model for the selection of migrants to understand who migrates and then analyze the impact of migration on destination countries’ labor markets using both theory and empirics.