James Kuriath | Beyond Population Growth: India’s Changing Fertility and Its Social Consequences

K.S. James

Professional Specialist

K. S. James is a demographer with extensive research and teaching experience focused on South Asia, particularly India. He was formerly a Senior Visiting Scholar at the Newcomb Institute, Tulane University, and previously served as Director and Senior Professor at the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai. He currently serves as President of the Asian Population Association (APA) and as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of International Health and Sustainable Development at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University.

His work broadly examines the interaction of socio-economic and policy forces shaping demographic processes, including fertility, gender, health, ageing, and well-being. With a strong interest in population dynamics, his research investigates India’s demographic transitions and their implications for economic development and social change. Much of his scholarship seeks to strengthen empirical understanding of the determinants and consequences of demographic change for population health and well-being. His research is organized around three interrelated areas: (i) demographic change and its implications, including the demographic dividend; (ii) population ageing; and (iii) data systems and measurement. His contributions to the study of demographic change and the demographic dividend are widely recognized for advancing understanding of emerging demographic regimes in India.

An important area of his recent work focuses on demographic and health data systems, particularly the quality and use of data from civil registration, administrative records, and large-scale surveys. He has published widely in leading international journals, including Science, The Lancet Global Health, Demography, Population Studies, Social Science & Medicine, Population and Development Review, Journal of Demographic Economics, and Studies in Family Planning, among others, and has authored and edited several books. He received postdoctoral training at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, Harvard University, and holds a PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has also been a visiting fellow at institutions including Harvard University, the London School of Economics, IIASA, the University of Southampton, and the University of Groningen.