Dirk Jan "Dick" van de Kaa (born 5 January 1933) is a Dutch demographer. From 1970 to 1987 he was the first director of the
Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (
nl). From 1987 to 1995 he was director and rector of the
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is an independent research institute in the field of the humanities and social and behavioural sciences founded in 1970. The instit ...
. Van de Kaa was professor of demography at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
between 1978 and 1998.
Life
Van de Kaa was born on 5 January 1933 in
Scherpenzeel.
His father was a mailman while his mother was a housewife.
After attending primary school during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he attended the
Hogere Burgerschool in
Amersfoort
Amersfoort () is a city and municipality in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, about 20 km from the city of Utrecht and 40 km south east of Amsterdam. As of 1 December 2021, the municipality had a population of 158,531, making it the second- ...
.
[ Van de Kaa obtained a degree in ]social geography
Social geography is the branch of human geography that is interested in the relationships between society and space, and is most closely related to social theory in general and sociology in particular, dealing with the relation of social phenomena ...
at Utrecht University
Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...
in 1959. After obtaining his degree he had to perform military service and was sent for training to become an officer in the Netherlands Marine Corps. He was subsequently sent to Netherlands New Guinea
Dutch New Guinea or Netherlands New Guinea ( nl, Nederlands-Nieuw-Guinea, id, Nugini Belanda) was the western half of the island of New Guinea that was a part of the Dutch East Indies until 1949, later an overseas territory of the Kingd ...
as a second lieutenant. After having served for only a couple of months van de Kaa was asked to return to the Netherlands and leave military service to help assist in setting up a demographic survey of Netherlands New Guinea. By February 1961 he was back in Netherlands New Guinea. When in 1962 the terroritory was handed over to Indonesia the field work of the survey had been done. Between 1963 and 1966 van de Kaa made several publications based on the material.[
In 1966 van de Kaa was asked by the ]Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...
to become a researcher at their instition. He was asked to perform research on Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...
in a similar way he had done before in Netherlands New Guinea.[ He obtained his PhD in demography at the Australian National University in 1971 with a thesis titled: "The demography of Papua and New Guinea's indigenous population".][ In 1970 the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute ( nl) (NIDI) was created and van de Kaa was asked to become its first director.][ During the 1970s he was scientific secretary of the State Commission Muntendam which dealt with population growth. In the late 1970s van de Kaa formulated the idea of a second demographic transition which leads to a ]sub-replacement fertility
Sub-replacement fertility is a total fertility rate (TFR) that (if sustained) leads to each new generation being less populous than the older, previous one in a given area. The United Nations Population Division defines sub-replacement fertilit ...
-level. He remained director of the NIDI until 1987. Van de Kaa subsequently served as director and rector of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) in Amsterdam, Netherlands, is an independent research institute in the field of the humanities and social and behavioural sciences founded in 1970. The instit ...
from 1987 to 1995.[
From 1978 to 1987 he was part-time professor (Dutch: ''buitengewoon hoogleraar'') of demography at the ]University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
. Between 1987 and 1988 he was a regular professor. From 1988 to 1998 he was an unpaid regular professor.[ He was a professor of the Cleveringa chair (Dutch: ''bijzonder hoogleraar'') at ]Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
from 1991 to 1992. He was vice president of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
The Dutch Research Council (NWO, Dutch: Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek) is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course o ...
between 1988 and 1998. Van de Kaa was chairperson of the Sociaal Wetenschappelijke Raad of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences between 1990 and 1996.[
Van de Kaa was elected a member of the ]Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
in 1976. He was elected a member of the Academia Europaea
The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences.
The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...
in 1989. In 1991 he was made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...
. He is an honorary fellow of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute. Van de Kaa serves as member of council of Population Europe Population Europe is a collaborative network of Europe's demographic research institutes and centres.EurActiv: EU news and policy debateRetrieved January 5, 2013News: DG Employment, Social Affairs and InclusioRetrieved January 5, 2013The guardiaRet ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaa, Dick van de
1933 births
Living people
Australian National University alumni
Dutch demographers
Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
Academic staff of Leiden University
Members of Academia Europaea
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
People from Scherpenzeel, Gelderland
Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam
Utrecht University alumni