The authors propose a unified growth theory to explain demographic empirical regularities. They calibrate the model to match data moments for Sweden in 2000 and around 1800. The simulated data generated by the calibrated model are then compared to the historical time series for Sweden over the period 1750-2000 in order to investigate the fit of long-term development dynamics, as well as to cross-country panel data for the period 1960-2000 to analyze the relevance for cross-sectional patterns of comparative development.

For the calibration, data was used from the OECD webpage, ERS Dataset, historical statistics from the Bank of Sweden, micro data from the ECHP dataset, Data from the Human Mortality Data Base, UN Population Statistics, or data from existing papers. For the time-series and cross section analysis, data was taken from the Human Mortality Database, World Development Indicators, Swedish Central Statistical Office, UN Population Statistics and existing literature.