John P. M. Bongaarts (born 1945) is a Dutch-American demographer. He serves as Vice-President and Distinguished Scholar at the

Population Council The Population Council is an international, nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The Council conducts research in biomedicine, social science, and public health and helps build research capacities in developing countries. One-third of its res ...

, where he has worked since the 1970s. Bongaart has performed research in a diverse set of topics, such as population growth and aging,

mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...

, population-environment links and demography related to the

epidemiology of HIV/AIDS The global epidemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 2021, HIV/AI ...

. His most recognized work lies in the field of fertility, and has been a topic of interest throughout his career.

Career

Bongaarts was born in

Tegelen Tegelen ( li, Tegele) is a village in the municipality of Venlo, situated in the Netherlands. It was an independent municipality until 2001, when it was merged into the municipality of Venlo. Tiglian The name of the glacial stage of Tiglian (pa ...

, the Netherlands, in 1945. He obtained a degree in electrical engineering from

Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...

in 1968. Bongaarts subsequently moved to the United States where he studied physiology and biomedical engineering at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

and obtained his PhD in 1972, with a dissertation titled: "A Cybernetic Model of the Demographic Transition". He subsequently was a

postdoctoral fellow A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). The ultimate goal of a postdoctoral research position is to p ...

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. He started working as associate for the Center for Population Studies of the

in 1973. By 1982 he had become senior associate. In 1988 he became deputy director. The next year he was promoted to vice president of the policy research division. Since 2007 he also serves as distinguished scholar.

Research

Bongaarts has performed research a broad variety of topics, such as:

population ageing Population ageing is an increasing median age in a population because of declining fertility rates and rising life expectancy. Most countries have rising life expectancy and an ageing population, trends that emerged first in developed countries b ...

fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...

, population policy options,

life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

. During the 1980s and 1990s he did research on the

. Research of Bongaart on worldwide and smaller scale birth patterns has taken into account his statistical research on malnutrition, the availability and access to birth control and abortion, malnutrition and the duration of breastfeeding. In 1994 Bongaarts published the article "Population Policy Options in the Developing World" in ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

''. The article examined three causes of population growth:

unwanted fertility Unintended pregnancies are pregnancies that are mistimed, unplanned or unwanted at the time of conception. Sexual activity without the use of effective contraception through choice or coercion is the predominant cause of unintended pregnancy. Wor ...

, high desired family size, and

population momentum Population momentum is a consequence of the demographic transition. Population momentum explains why a population will continue to grow even if the fertility rate declines. Population momentum occurs because it is not only the number of children per ...

. The article subsequently provided policy. It is considered to be one of the most influential articles in demography. Bongaarts has designed an influential model on the fertility rate of a society, consisting of four main points: the proportion of married women, the proportion of women unable to bear children, the proportion of women using anticonceptives, and the abortion rate. In an article in ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

'' in February 2016, Bongaarts showed projections of world population growth by 2100 and argued for worldwide spread of quality contraception and

family planning Family planning is the consideration of the number of children a person wishes to have, including the choice to have no children, and the age at which they wish to have them. Things that may play a role on family planning decisions include marita ...

within ten years to slow down population growth. He furthermore argued for commitment to family planning at national and international level. He has seen the possibility of the latter increase since the 1994

International Conference on Population and Development The United Nations coordinated an International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt, on 5–13 September 1994. Its resulting Programme of Action is the steering document for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) ...

Honors and distinctions

He was elected a corresponding 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 1986. He was elected a member of the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2002. In 2013 he was selected as

International Union for the Scientific Study of Population International Union for the Scientific Study of Population is an international union for the study of human population Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exce ...

laureate. In his nomination letter for the laureate Samuel H. Preston wrote: "I can think of no one who has contributed more to the battery of methods used to study population processes.".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bongaarts, John 1945 births Living people American demographers Dutch demographers Eindhoven University of Technology alumni Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences People from Tegelen University of Illinois Chicago alumni