K.S. James

K S James is the Senior Visiting Scholar at Newcomb Institute, Tulane University. He possesses extensive research and teaching experience in the field of Demography with focus on South Asia. He was formerly the Director and Senior Professor of the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, India. He also served as a Professor of Population Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and Professor and Head of Population Research Centre at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, India. Currently, he holds the position as Vice-president of the Asian Population Association (APA) and serves as a member of the Commission set up by the Government of Kerala, India to formulate Kerala Urban Policy. 

Broadly, his work examines the interaction of socio-economic and policy forces on the demographic factors including fertility, marriage, gender and ageing.  With deep interests in population dynamics, he investigates India’s demographic changes and its implication on the economy and society. Much of his research aims at improving empirical knowledge of the determinants and consequences of demographic change in India. James’s research is primarily organised into three interrelated areas (i) demographic change and its implications, (ii) ageing and (iii) data and measurement. His works on demographic changes and dividend are widely recognised as important contribution to understanding new forms of demographic change. The other area of his interest is on data system and measurement. Examining the quality of data available from registration and administrative system as well as from surveys forms a major focus of his research in recent years. He has several books and articles in his credit. He has published widely on demographic transition, demographic dividend and data system in India in journals such as Science, Lancet Global Health, BMC Public Health, Social Science and Medicine, JAMA Network Open, Journal of Biosocial Science, Population and Development Review, Social Indicators Research, Population Studies, Journal of Demographic Economics, Vaccine, Ageing International, Brown Journal of World Affairs, Studies in Family Planning, Economic and Political Weekly etc.

He holds a postdoctoral training from Harvard Centre for Population and Development, Harvard University, USA and Ph.D from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been a visiting fellow in many prestigious institutes and universities including Harvard University, USA; London School of Economics, UK; International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA), Austria, University of Southampton, UK and University of Groningen, The Netherlands.