Professor Peter McDonald and Dr Meimanat Hosseini-Chavoshi from ADSRI participated in the 7th Shanghai Forum held on May 26-29, 2012. The Forum had a special focus on economic challenges and development in Asia. Integrated with the Forum, the ‘Below Replacement Fertility’ Panel of the IUSSP with collaboration of the School of Social Development and Public Policy of Fudan University organised an international seminar on ‘Patterns of Economic Development, Social Change, and Fertility Decline in Comparative Perspective’. Professor McDonald gave the keynote speech to open the seminar arguing that fertility increase would not mitigate ageing in Asia except in the very long-term. Then several papers explained the emerging global regime of low fertility in different settings and paces of economic development. Presenters addressed the new demographic trends and challenges in Asia, including Dr Hosseini-Chavoshi who presented a paper about past trends and future prospects of fertility transition in Iran. The last day of the Seminar was allocated to the host country for discussion of low fertility in China. The forum was successfully closed on 29th by outlining the forum’s achievements, and pointing out the economic challenges and their policy implications in Asia over the next decade.