Please join the East Asia Center for a special public panel, “From Malthus to Musk: Searching for Population Equilibrium in East Asia“, that will feature CSDE Director Sara Curran and three other scholars on April 30 from 3:30 – 5 PM, in HUB 337, University of Washington.

From Malthus’s warnings of overpopulation to Musk’s urge to boost fertility, the drastic turn of humanity’s relationship with population growth is one of the defining features of East Asian societies. Nowhere have demographic shifts been more seismic in their speed, scale, and scope than in East Asia over the past century. Populations in this region now simultaneously exhibit the world’s longest life expectancies and its lowest fertility rates.

How did East Asian societies arrive at this point? Can they return to replacement-level fertility? Echoing the historical contrast between East Asian and Western European demographic regimes, we debate the existence of a distinct “East Asian model” of demographic transition. Adopting a regional and comparative perspective, we argue that intense family competition and proactive government intervention—both operating within the context of deep-seated cultural traditions—have defined the region’s current demographic challenges.

We conclude, however, that policy interventions alone will likely prove insufficient without addressing the fundamental shifts in social values and the complex interplay of economic, cultural, and political factors driving this historic demographic transformation.

Yong Cai
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Feng Wang
Professor, Sociology, School of Social Sciences
University of California, Irvine

Sara Curran
Professor, International Studies & Sociology
Director, Center for Studies in Demography & Ecology
University of Washington

James Lin
Associate Professor, International Studies & History
Chair, Taiwan Studies Program
University of Washington