International Handbook of Population Policies

This Handbook offers an array of internationally recognized experts’ essays that provide a current and comprehensive examination of all dimensions of international population policies. The book examines the theoretical foundations, the historical and empirical evidence for policy formation, the policy levers and modelling, as well as the new policy challenges. The section Theoretical Foundations reviews population issues today, population theories, the population policies’ framework as well as the linkages between population, development, health, food systems, and the environment. The next section Empirical Evidence discusses international approaches to design and implement population policies on a regional level. The section Policy Levers and Modelling reviews the tools and the policy levers that are available to design, implement, monitor, and measure the impact of population policies. Finally, the section New Policy Challenges examines the recurrent and emerging issues in population policies. This section also discusses prospects for demographic sustainability as well as future considerations for population policies. As such this Handbook provides an important and structured examination of contemporary population policies, their evolution, and their prospects.

John F. May, PhD, a US and Belgian national, is a specialist of population policies and programs. He is currently Research Professor of Public Policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University, Arlington, VA. Dr. May earned a BA in Modern History (1973) and a MA in Demography (1985) at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. He received his PhD Summa cum laude from the University of Paris-V (Sorbonne) in 1996. He was a Lead Demographer at the World Bank for 15 years and has worked for the United Nations (Haiti and New Caledonia), as well as for The Futures Group International (now, The Palladium Group), a US consulting firm specializing in demographic modeling and population policy. In addition, he has worked around the world for most international agencies, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He was also a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development (CGD) and a Visiting Scholar at the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), both in Washington, DC.

He has published World Population Policies: Their Origin, Evolution, and Impact (Springer, 2012), which received the Population Institute 2012 Global Media Award for best book in population. His recent book, Africa’s Population: In Search of a Demographic Dividend (Springer, 2017), was co-edited with Dr. Hans Groth, Chair of the World Demographic & Ageing Forum (WDA Forum) in St. Gallen, Switzerland. His most recent book Demography and Economic Emergence of Sub-Saharan Africa was written with Dr. Jean-Pierre Guengant (Belgian Royal Academy, 2020). 

Jack A. Goldstone, PhD, is a specialist in political demography and long-term social change. He is currently the Virginia E. and John T. Hazel, Jr., Professor of Public Policy at the Schar School of Policy and Government, GeorgeMason University, Arlington, VA. Dr. Goldstone has a PhD in Sociology from Harvard University and has also taught at Northwestern University and the University of California. He led a research laboratory on macro-sociology and political demography at the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow and been Director of the Institute for Public Policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He received the Myron Weiner Award of the International Studies Association for lifetime achievement in the field of political demography. He co-edited Political Demography (Oxford, 2011) with Eric Kaufmann and Monica Duffy Toft, and is working on his next book: 15 Billion: How Population Change will Change the World in the 21^st Century.