Home to close to 60 per cent of the world’s population, Asia is the largest and by far the most populous continent. It is also extremely diverse, physically and culturally. Asian countries and regions have their own distinctive histories, cultural traditions, religious beliefs and political systems, and they have often pursued different routes to development. Asian populations also present a striking array of demographic characteristics and stages of demographic transition.

Researchers and Research Areas of Expertise

Prof Heather Booth: Mortality; Stochastic Analysis and Modelling; Population Trends and Policies; Social Change; Family and Household Studies; Pacific Peoples Health

Assoc Prof (Adjunct) Adrian Hayes: Population, climate change and sustainable development; Population, environment and development; Family planning, population health, governance and social welfare; Action, institutional change and methodology; Program evaluation; Southeast Asia

Emeritus Prof Terence Hull: Demography; Reproduction; Fertility; Population Trends and Policies; Family and Household Studies; Public Health and Health Services; Health Policy; Culture, Gender, Sexuality

Prof James Raymer: Migration; Human Geography; Demography

Dr Iwu Dwisetyani Utomo: Demography; Ageing; Life Cycle of Young People; Reproductive Health; Gender Empowerment; Studies of Asian Society; Culture, Social Change and Health

Prof Zhongwei Zhao: Demography; Mortality; Fertility; Family and Household Studies; Population Trends and Policies

Current Projects

The Greater Jakarta Transition to Adulthood Longitudinal Survey: Funding provided by the Ford Foundation, the Australian Research Council, World Health Organisation, National University of Singapore and the ANU School of Demography. This project examines how changes in the lives of young Indonesians affect their progression to becoming independent, secure adults and in what ways this progress differs for men and women and by socio-economic strata.

Recent Publications

• Abel, Guy, Raymer, James, Guan, Qing (2019) Driving factors of Asian international migration flows, Asian Population Studies, Published online: 25 Sep 2019
• Zhao, Zhongwei & Hayes, Adrian (eds) (2018) Routledge Handbook of Asian Demography, Routledge, London
• Zhao, Z & Yu, Y (2018), Age patterns and sex differentials in mortality,  in Zhongwei Zhao and Adrian C Hayes (eds) Routledge Handbook of Asian Demography, Routledge, London, pp. 209-227.
• Zhao, Z & Hayes, A (2018) Conclusion, in Zhongwei Zhao and Adrian C Hayes (eds) Routledge Handbook of Asian Demography, Routledge, London, pp. 532-539
• Utomo, A, Reimondos, A, Utomo, I et al. (2016) Transition into marriage in Greater Jakarta: Courtship, parental influence, and self-choice marriage, South East Asia Research, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 492-509
• Zhao, Z & Zhang, G, (2018) Socioeconomic factors have been the major driving force of China's fertility changes since the mid-1990s, Demography, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 733-742