The Routledge Handbook of Asian Demography was published in January this year. Asia is an immense continent with populations living in vastly different environments and presenting a striking array of population characteristics and stages of demographic transition. The Handbook is the first scholarly attempt from a demographic perspective to provide a comprehensive analysis of how these populations across the entire region have changed since the middle of the last century. 

This seminar will be organised as a panel discussion, with the Handbook’s two editors – Zhongwei Zhao and Adrian Hayes – and two key contributors – Terry Hull and Heather Booth – as panellists. All four panellists are from the ANU School of Demography. Using the Handbook as a point of departure each panellist will have ten minutes to present one or two succinct comments on how they see the demographic changes of the last 60 years influencing future developments in the region. The last part of the seminar will be reserved for open discussion, during which the future of demographic research may also be considered.