Hans-Peter Kohler

Hans-Peter Kohler is Professor of Sociology and Research Associate at Population Studies Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Prof. Kohler’s primary research focuses on fertility and health in developing and developed countries. A key characteristic of this research is the attempt to integrate demographic, economic, sociological and biological approaches in empirical and theoretical models of demographic behavior.

Kohler is the recipient of the 2005 Clifford C. Clogg Award for Early Career Achievement by the Population Association of America; he has been a recent fellow at the Norwegian Academy of Science and his research has received extensive funding through the National Institutes of Health (USA) and other institutions.

He is author of a book on fertility and social interaction, has co-edited books on the biodemography of human reproduction and fertility and on causal inferences in population studies. Prof. Kohler has widely published on topics related to fertility, health, social and sexual networks, HIV/AIDS, biodemography and well-being in leading scientific journals, and his work has had substantial influence on policy and media discussions related to demographic change.

He is currently the principal investigator of the Malawi Longitudinal Study of Families and Health, the Chair of the Graduate Group in Demography at the University of Pennsylvania, and the president of the Society of Biodemography and Social Biology.  He received his M.A. in demography and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.