This book is a story about the most important events in the recent demographic history of the Earth. The reader will be able to get acquainted with new models of demographic behavior characteristic of residents of the USA, Western and Eastern Europe, Italy and Spain, India and China and other regions of the world, learn about changes in their life cycle (entry into independent life, intimate relationships and marriage, contraceptive revolution, birth of children, life and death), about the reasons for these changes, as well as get acquainted with the problems and theories that reflect these changes. A significant place in the book is devoted to the demographic problems of modern Russia and the search for a way out of the demographic crisis. The author emphasizes that cultural and social differences between regions cannot be ignored with impunity, and policy methods cannot be thoughtlessly imported. It is hardly worth explaining for a long time what consequences this often leads to and why this issue is so relevant for Russia. The interdisciplinary nature of the topic makes the book interesting for everyone who, by professional occupation or due to personal inclination, is concerned with problems of history, demography, geography, regional studies, sociology, political science, international relations.