In modern societies, it is becoming increasingly important to have an idea of how the population and its structure will change in a given future. To this purpose, demographic projections are prepared on the basis of a set of assumptions on mortality, fertility and migration trends. Given the uncertainty that is inherent to this kind of exercise, different scenarios are usually constructed, using different plausible combinations of various assumptions
on the demographic components.
This paper analyses the recent evolution of demographic variables, a fundamental stage in the choice of the assumptions adopted in the construction of the scenarios to use in Population Projection 2000-2050.

keywords: demographic projections, mortality, fertility, migrations.