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Temporary internal migration is an important livelihood strategy but there have been inconsistencies in its conceptualisation and measurement which limit understanding of the phenomenon across diverse geographical contexts. This paper explores the ontological category of temporary internal migration and how it is defined and measured in eight Asian countries. We identify three broad approaches to measurement: Place of enumeration; Multilocality and Administrative measures. Using these data, we undertake comparisons of migration intensity, age profiles, and rural- to-urban flows across countries in our sample. Our findings indicate that temporary migration ranges between 0.3 to 2.9 per cent of the population—likely an underestimate of internal temporary mobility. Applying an average intensity of 1.5 per cent to all Asian countries yields an estimate of 71 million temporary internal migrants in any given year. Analysis of age profiles reveals that temporary internal migration peaks not only at young adult ages, but also at older ages in selected countries, pointing to the importance of consumption-related movements in some settings. The geographical patterns are also diverse with rural-to-urban flows matched by significant rural-to-rural and urban-to-rural flows. The paper concludes with recommendations for advancing both the conceptualisation and measurement of temporary internal migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professor Gavin W. Jones dedicated an impressive 58-year career to extensive research on various aspects of population and development in Asia. As a seasoned consultant, he was pivotal in shaping population policies and programs in more than 10 Asian countries, impacting the region’s demographic landscape. Throughout his illustrious career, Gavin has left an indelible mark through his prolific publications, with 30 books, over 180 journal articles, and book chapters. His body of work covered various demographic subjects in the Asia-Pacific region, significantly contributing to our understanding of population dynamics in Southeast, South, and East Asia. His research has been instrumental in informing policy decisions in these regions by providing evidence-based recommendations. In addition to his consultancy and academic achievements, Gavin actively engaged in professional networks, fostering collaborations and facilitating knowledge exchange among fellow demographers and researchers. His commitment to mentorship has been invaluable, nurturing emerging demographers and supporting the next generation of population scholars in population and development. The present paper aims to delve into Professor Gavin W. Jones’s specific contributions to elucidate the intricate relationship between population and development, an area that inevitably intersects with other papers in this festschrift on marriage, fertility, and urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights Professor Gavin Jones’ seminal work on Asian divorce patterns, with a particular focus on Southeast Asia’s Muslim communities. Beginning in the 1980s, Jones addressed the challenges of fragmented and often unreliable demographic data on divorce. With careful compilation and analysis of aggregate data, paired with firsthand surveys and ethnographic studies, he set a foundation for examining shifting divorce trends in Southeast Asia. His findings challenged prevailing ethnocentric perspectives and questioned the notion that modernisation invariably leads to rising divorce rates. Jones stressed the importance of understanding divorce within the broader social, cultural, and historical contexts of the respective societies. Beyond his individual research, he was instrumental in cultivating a community of scholars studying marriage and divorce in Asia and fostering collaborations. Jones’ insights into Asia’s demographic shifts have been invaluable, and his legacy will continue to influence demographers for generations to come. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we pay tribute to the late Emeritus Professor Gavin W. Jones and his outstanding contributions to the scholarship on marriage. Following a chronological assessment of his large body of work on marriage, we reflect on Gavin’s general approach to research changing marriage patterns within and across diverse regions of Asia. His approach to studying marriage went beyond the conventional demographic focus on examining shifts in age at first marriage. He showed how examining shifting patterns across different, yet interrelated aspects of marriage offered an important window to understand the broader complexities of economic and socio-political change in the region; showing why there is much more to demography beyond counting births, deaths, and migration. As two generations of demographers, we reflected how his work and approach to research continue to influence our research and engagement with the region. Gavin’s legacy extends beyond demography and Indonesian/Malay studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until the 1970s the Asia-born population of Australia remained small due to the racist White Australia Policy which denied entry to non-Europeans. Following its abolition in the early 1970s, Asian immigration progressively intensified, and in 2016 the Asia-born population of the country reached a total of 2.7 million, though the older population aged 65+ remained relatively small. This paper presents new projections of Australia's older Asia-born populations from 2016 to 2056 created with a new birthplace projection model. The results show substantial growth of the older Asia-born population can be expected over coming decades, along with changing composition by country of birth. The Asia-born proportion of Australia's older population overall is projected to rise from just 6 per cent in 2016 to 19 per cent in 2056. These coming demographic changes present challenges and opportunities - in particular relating to the provision of culturally appropriate residential and community aged care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal migration, the movement of people between localities and regions within a country, has resulted in a significant redistribution of national populations. Past cross-national studies have been impeded by a lack of data and comparable metrics upon which to base comparisons. This paper examines internal migration in 30 Asian countries utilising a global dataset and a novel suite of measures devised in the IMAGE project. Three aspects of internal migration are explored: overall intensity, age patterns, and spatial impacts. Comparisons reveal that internal migration intensities, while on average lower than in other regions, are highly variable across countries. Migration peaks at earlier ages and is concentrated into a narrower age band than in other parts of the world. Analysis of spatial impacts highlights the contribution of migration to urbanisation, but a comparison of current trends against lifetime migration data also reveals the impact of historical events and government policies on national migration systems. Wide variation in key dimensions of migration among Asian countries reflects a diversity in national circumstances. The way forward lies in further in-depth country studies building on the common analytic framework articulated in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the countries of East and Southeast Asia where fertility has reached ultra-low levels, there has been a flurry of developments in pro-natalist policy over the past five years or so, but its impact appears to be limited. This paper addresses the strong obstacles hindering the success of pro-natalist policies in the region, suggests key interventions that are needed, and stresses that the policies in these countries should also be considering other ways of addressing the issues. Social policy has certainly moved ahead in positive ways in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, as evidenced by parental leave policy and childcare reform, but workplace cultures have yet to follow suit. The slow changes in gender norms, along with the pressures of educating children and finding housing in the big cities where most people in the region live, are the continuing realities facing couples considering marriage and childbearing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 and migration, marriages & births Pandemics exert a significant impact on the migratory decisions and movements of people; the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be no exception. Estimating excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic analysis of COVID-19-related mortality, 2020-21. Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic has had and will continue to have a profound influence on human society for many years to come. [Extracted from the article]

Migration from, to and within Asia are believed to capture many of the largest flows in the world yet very little is known about the specific patterns and factors contributing to them. In this paper, utilising recent estimates of five-year bilateral migration flows for all countries in the world, we focus on understanding how demographic, geographic and socio-economic factors are related to the size of bilateral flows in Asia. We conduct our analysis in three strands to differentiate migration: (1) amongst Asian countries, (2) from Asian countries to destinations outside the region, and (3) towards Asian countries from elsewhere in the world. After controlling for demographic, geographic and socio-economic variables, we find that large countries are important senders of migrants but not so for receiving migrants, distance has nearly the same effect for moves within Asia and for moves to countries outside the region, and Gross Domestic Product per capita in the destination is important for moves within Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a swift decline during the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, period fertility rates have either been stagnating or increasing in all countries of Central Asia. In this paper, I investigate the role of data artifacts, population composition effect, economic context and shifting tempo effect in explaining fertility changes in Central Asia. The analysis is primarily based on comparison of fertility data from the vital registration system with estimates from other data sources. The results show that the recent changes to be real and not a result of data artifact. The most plausible explanations are to be found in the three other non-exclusive factors (population composition effect, economic context and shifting tempo effect) that contributed jointly and simultaneously to push up the period fertility rates in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Millions of lives in Asia were lost in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, causing a reduction of 1.66 years in life expectancy at birth (e0) in 2019–2021 and a reduction of 1.41 years in life expectancy at age 60 (e60). Using the World Population Prospects 2022, we decomposed mortality changes at older ages (ages 60+) that contributed to Asia's reduction in e0 and e60. Overall, changes in mortality at older ages contributed to more than 70 per cent of reduction in e0 for all its subregions, except Eastern Asia (<37 per cent), and changes in mortality at oldest-old ages (80+) led to a reduction in e60 by 25 per cent. The sex difference in reduction of e60 varied across Asian countries, despite a similar pattern across subregions. These findings helped us understand the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on human mortality and the large variations across subregions and countries, which could have important policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SARS-CoV-2 virus (termed COVID-19) has raised the mortality trends and diminished life expectancy globally. The impact of COVID-19 on mortality. however, differs across population groups, times, and locations. The current study examines some aspects of COVID-19's impact on mortality in Asia using published estimates of excess mortality. The estimates of excess mortality all showed higher death rates than officially reported for Asian countries. Excess mortality in India and Indonesia was about 7 and 10 times higher than the reported mortality rates. In both these countries, COVID-19 was probably the leading cause of death. COVID-19 deaths were higher among men and older people. People with multiple comorbidities had a significantly higher risk of infection severity and fatality from COVID-19. There were significant inequalities in mortality rates across different socioeconomic groups, with poor households and low-paid workers disproportionately affected by COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of government policy in fertility change has been a central inquiry in understanding global demographic changes in the last half century. We return to this inquiry with longitudinal data for over 150 countries from 1976 to 2013 and use fixed-effects models to address common methodological concerns. Our results reveal that while government anti-natalist policies fail to show clear effects for all countries included, they are associated with significantly lower fertility in Asia and Latin America, two regions that have seen the most rapid fertility decline. For pro-natalist policies, which are becoming more popular in recent years, we detect only short-term positive effects, and effects limited to countries where fertility has not sunk below the ultra-low level of 1.4 children per woman. Combined, these results suggest that government policies are important in global fertility change, though the policy impacts vary by geographic location, timing, and fertility level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People in East and South Asia widely believe that having children brings fulfilment to an individual's life. However, over the past fifty years, modernisation in Asia has been accompanied by a remarkable drop in birth rates to a level even lower than most western countries. Prior research on western nations has shown that the time demands and financial stresses of parenthood, as well as current inflexible employment practices, contribute to the high cost of parenthood and discount the emotional rewards of having children. This study investigates the happiness of parents and childless individuals in East and South Asia, and whether social policies can improve parental happiness. We use individual-level data in 10 Asian countries from the World Values and the Asian Barometer Surveys, and find no country where parents report significantly greater happiness than non-parents after controlling for relevant sociodemographic differences. Multilevel models show that paid annual leave, paid maternity and parental leave, and flexible working schedules as well as a comprehensive policy index help alleviate the disparity in happiness between parents and non-parents across countries, in particular work flexibility, while family-friendly policies have no noticeable negative effects on non-parents' wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study revisits an on-going debate regarding the nature of relationship between population growth and economic development. It has selected 12 Asian countries as a case study to examine the possible existence of a significant relationship between population expansion and economic development in these countries. Empirical findings indicated that, contrary to popular beliefs, there is a significant positive relationship between the variables. This suggests that population growth has been beneficial to economic development in the region and not detrimental. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]