Expert group meeting on policy responses to low fertility

New York

Date:

02 November 2015 to 03 November 2015

Overview

The Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations, jointly with the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, is organizing an expert group meeting on “Policy responses to low fertility” that will be held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York during 2-3 November 2015. The expert group meeting will build on a series of 18 papers that have been prepared by academic experts from countries of Asia, Europe and North America, with funding support from the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) through the East-West Center.

The purpose of the expert group meeting is to broaden the discussion and the impact of these studies by involving other stakeholders, including academics, policymakers, and representatives of selected UN agencies and international organizations. The meeting aims to distil lessons learned and policy guidance for countries experiencing low fertility and the consequent ageing of their populations, and for those that are likely to face these challenges in the not too distant future.

Documents

Organization of work

Monday, 02 November 2015
09:00 – 09:30	Session I: Opening of the meeting John Wilmoth, Population Division, UNDESA. Welcome Minja Kim Choe, East-West Center, Honolulu, HI. Overview of the project on Policy Responses to Low Fertility Vinod Mishra, Population Division, UNDESA. Scope and objectives of the meeting
09:30 – 11:00	Session II: Emergence of low fertility and its consequences Chair: Sangho Kim, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) Lina Bassarsky, Population Division, UNDESA. Overview of trends in fertility and population ageing Kirill Andreev, Population Division, UNDESA. Demographic implications of recent shift in China’s fertility policy S. Amer Ahmed, World Bank. Developmental consequences of demographic trends Tomas Sobotka, Vienna Institute of Demography and Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital, Austria. Macro factors behind low fertility Olivier Thevenon, French Institute for Demographic Studies (INED). Policy approaches in countries experiencing low fertility
11:15 – 12:45	Session III: Responses to low fertility and population ageing Moderator: Renata Kaczmarska, Division for Social Policy and Development, UNDESA Expert: Wendy Sigle, Gender Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom Expert: Maria Letizia Tanturri, University of Padova, Italy Expert: Kyunghee Chung, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) Heonjoo Kim, Population and Child Policy Bureau, Republic of Korea, Policymaker perspective. Ann Pawliczko, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Regional/global perspective
14:45 – 16:15	Session IV: Context and policy options in countries with very low fertility Moderator: Nicolaas van Nimwegen, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute Expert: Gavin W. Jones, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, Australian National University Expert: Pau Baizan-Munoz, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain Expert: Samsik Lee, Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs (KIHASA) Kittipong Sae-Jeng, Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand. Policymaker perspective Vitalija Gaucaite Wittich, United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe. Regional/global perspective.
16:30 – 18:00	Session V: Context and policy lessons from countries with near-replacement fertility Moderator: Noriko O. Tsuya, Keio University, Japan
	Expert: Melinda C. Mills, University of Oxford, United Kingdom Expert: S. Philip Morgan, University of North Carolina, USA Expert: Sarah Brauner-Otto, McGill University, Canada Petter Odmark, Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Sweden. Policymaker perspective Terry Hull, Australian National University, Regional/global perspective
Tuesday, 03 November 2015
09:00 – 10:30	Session VI: Policy options for countries approaching low fertility Moderator: Feng Wang, University of California, Irvine and Fudan University, China
	Expert: Zsolt Speder, Hungarian Demographic Research Institute Expert: Anne Gauthier, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute Expert: Ignacio Pardo, Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay Policymaker perspective: Jacques van Zuydam, Department for Social Development, South Africa Fabiana Del Popolo, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Regional/global perspective
10:30 – 11:45	Session VII: Conclusions and recommendations Chair: Rachel Snow, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
	Renata Kaczmarska, Nicolaas van Nimwegen, Noriko Tsuya and Feng Wang. Lessons learned and key policy priorities: reports from session moderators (sessions III-VI: 5-7 minutes each) Ronald R. Rindfuss, East-West Center and University of North Carolina; Minja Kim Choe, East-West Center, Honolulu, HI. Cross cutting issues Stuart Basten, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Information gaps and data needs for monitoring policies
11:45 – 12:00	Session VIII: Closing John Wilmoth, Population Division, UNDESA. Closing remarks