• Serves as one of the first texts to explore low fertility in Pacific Asia in-depth
• Places fertility in China in a regional context to help readers gain a comparative understanding of similarities and differences with other countries' population issues
• Utilizes quantitative and qualitative data, as well as evidence from newspapers and popular media

"It is a rare treasure: a book written by a demographer that is a real delight to read....It is clearly written with a wide readership in mind, though it also has much to offer population specialists"
Population Studies

"Gietel-Basten has gathered the findings [of his research] in this book, in short readable chapters and a strong critical narrative of 178 pages. The result is a timely warning against single-minded approaches to population policy, and a reminder that millions of individual decision makers can have enormous influences on fertility rates even in communal-based societies, at times undermining the intentions of authoritarian leaders."
Population and Development Review


"Something's happening out there and Stuart Gietel-Basten has a better idea of what it might be than any other demographer currently working on the planet. This modestly titled book is about something far greater than the issue of population in a part of Asia. Here, the first substantial and rigorous academic evidence on the topic is collated, synthesized, and presented. More of the world is heading for sustained very low fertility than that part currently projected to continue growing in population within a couple of generations' time. It began in earnest in Pacific Asia. This is the first book to tell the most important story of our current century."
Danny Dorling, BSc, PhD, Halford Mackinder Professor of Geography, University of Oxford

"Stuart Gietel-Basten's book traces out very effectively the trends in fertility and population size and structure in the Pacific Asian countries, offers an insightful analysis of the factors keeping fertility low, the policy concerns of their governments, and some approaches to enabling their population to realize their family building desires. His book raises many important issues, in some cases in innovative ways."
Gavin W. Jones, Australian National University, Social Forces

"This is a genuinely impressive book. It gives us a thorough and extremely well-documented panorama of the lowest-low fertility syndrome in Pacific Asia and China. But of far greater importance, it helps us understand that the gap between desired and actual childbearing is a multi-dimensional problem. As Stuart Gietel-Basten so well demonstrates, the real cause lies in societal malfunctioning on a host of dimensions, including the employment relationship, outdated gender relationships, the cost of having children, and the double-caring burden that families face. In brief, Pacific Asia cannot expect a return to higher fertility with one policy, be it family allowances or early childcare; a thoroughgoing institutional realignment is a must. This conclusion, I believe, can readily be generalized to the low-fertility nations of Europe. The 'Population Problem' in Pacific Asia is as relevant for policymakers as it is for academics."
Gøsta Esping-Andersen, PhD, Professor, Pompeu Fabra University


"The future of world population growth will largely depend on the speed of fertility decline in Africa and on the question how low fertility will fall in Asia. This well written book introduces the reader to the determinants of very low fertility in Pacific Asia and discusses its economic, social, and policy implications. A must for everyone interested in Asian and world population."
Wolfgang Lutz, PhD, Founding Director, Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital


"At last, here is a book which scrutinises a wide range of contexts and data on the demographic profiles of Pacific Asian countries leading to it having 'population problem' in quotation marks-connoting 'so-called,' 'alleged,' or similar. That sceptical rejection is quite correct. The book is an academic work in demography, but I hope it will be read by politicians to get through to them that superficial, ill-informed speeches and policy proposals that implicitly or explicitly demonize women are likely to be totally nugatory in their impacts."
David Cope, PhD, MSc, Former Director, UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology

• Demography is not destiny. As Giacomo Casanova explained over two centuries ago: 'There is no such thing as destiny. We ourselves shape our own lives.'

• Today we are shaping them and our societies more than ever before. Globally, we have never had fewer children per adult: our population is about to stabilize, though we do not know when or at what number, or what will happen after that. It will be the result of billions of very private decisions influenced in turn by multiple events and policies, some more unpredictable than others. More people are moving further around the world than ever before: we too often see that as frightening, rather than as indicating greater freedom. Similarly, we too often lament greater ageing, rather than recognizing it as a tremendous human achievement with numerous benefits to which we must adapt.

• Demography comes to the fore most positively when we see that we have choices, when we understand variation and when we are not deterministic in our prescriptions. The study of demography has for too long been dominated by pessimism and inhuman, simplistic accounting. As this fascinating and persuasive overview demonstrates, how we understand our demography needs to change again.

"Demographers threaten us with a world population explosion, an unsupportable burden of pensioners, migration run wild, even a eugenic threat! But Dorling and Gietel-Basten give us heart. Some threats turned into blessings while other proved as hopelessly inaccurate as economic forecast."
Richard Wilkinson, co-author of The Spirit Level

"Dorling and Gietel-Basten demonstrate how much we don't know when it comes to demographics. With encyclopedic incision, the authors enjoin readers to consider the meaning, measurement, and manipulation of demographics, eschewing hyperbole for common sense. Rejecting demographic fear mongering and cloudy statistical thinking, Why Demography Matters provides a critical assessment of who counts and why, and the meaning of one of the world's most important drivers of change."
Amy Glasmeier, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"As authors Danny Dorling and Stuart Gietel-Basten remind us in their excellent text, [the] misinterpretation of demographic work is not uncommon. They remind us that the work of demographers is inherently political. […] Ultimately, Dorling and Gietel-Basten ask, can demography be optimistic and personal? And their convincing response is yes. This is why I think this book should be a required supplemental text to any demography class as well as an essential read for anyone involved in demographic work."
Canadian Studies in Population

• The demographic future of Asia is a global issue. As the biggest driver of population growth, an understanding of patterns and trends in fertility throughout Asia is critical to understand our shared demographic future. This is the first book to comprehensively and systematically analyse fertility across the continent through the perspective of individuals themselves rather than as a consequence of top-down government policies.

• Special introductory chapters provide context to the key themes of ‘son preference’ and the relationship between fertility preferences and broader theories of fertility transition. Exploring fertility through the lens of preferences, international researchers and leading academics discuss themes relating to family size, contraception use and the roles of indicators such as education and income, as well as sub-national variation. Covering the experiences of more than one-third of the global population over 22 territories, this book explores the heterogeneous experience of Asia, home to some of the highest and lowest fertility rates in the world. Understudied countries such as Brunei, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste have new and revealing fertility data examined.

• This is the ‘go-to’ reference guide for scholars, students and policymakers who are concerned with Asia’s demographic future. Scholars of demography, reproductive health and family planning will find this a comprehensive insight into the future demography of Asia.

‘The publication is a very interesting tool for demographers interested in the situation in Asia. It really offers a comprehensive view of fertility on this continent. Reading this book is very useful for getting to know this issue.’
Filip Hon, Review for Population Research

‘The collection of such a broad variety of evidence on national fertility preferences is unique, making the book a work of reference for future regional studies on fertility behavior in Asia.’
Barbara E. Fulda, European Journal of Population