Part one: Population and history. Introduction ; The weight of numbers

Part two: The gathering tide : among the Europeans. The triumph of the Anglo-Saxons ; The German and Russian challenges ; The passing of the 'great race' ; The West since 1945 : from baby-boom to mass immigration ; Russia and the Eastern Bloc from 1945 : the demography of Cold War defeat

Part three: The tide goes global : beyond the Europeans. Japan, China and East Asia : the ageing of giants ; The Middle East and North Africa : the demography of instability ; Nothing new under the sun? : final frontiers and future vistas

Appendix I: How life expectancy is calculated

Appendix II: How the total fertility rate is calculated.