New results based on methods of population synthesis, concerning magnetic field effects on the evolution of pulsars are reported. The present study confirms that models with timescales for the magnetic field decay longer than the pulsar lifetime are in better agreement with data. These new simulations indicate that the diagram log(PṖ) - log(t_s) alone cannot be used to test field decay models. The dispersion of the values of the initial period and magnetic field can explain the observed

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... r of the data points in such a diagram. The simulations also indicate that the statistical properties of anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft-gamma repeaters (magnetar candidates) are compatible with those derived for objects born in the high side tail of the magnetic field distribution. The predicted birth rate of neutron stars having field strengths in excess of 10^14 G is one object born each 750 yr.