Thomas Spoorenberg

Population Affairs Officer
United Nations Population Division

thomas.spoorenberg@gmail.com

Field of Study: Demography, Environment, History, Population and Development
 
Specialization: Age and Sex Structure, Data Collection and Processing, Estimates and Projections, Fertility, Population and Development, Training, Documentation, Information
 
Regional focus: Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, East Asia
 
Education: Doctorate (Ph.D, or MD), Université de Genève, Demography, 2009
 
Working languages: French
English
 


Personal web page:
https://sites.google.com/site/thomasspoorenberg/
 
Professional Summary:

I am a demographer with 15+ years of international and technical experience in methods and standards to assess population data quality, demographic analysis, fertility change, population estimates and projections.

I have worked at the University of Geneva, the National University of Mongolia, the United Nations Population Division, and the United Nations Statistics Division.

 

I have presented papers at the last four IUSSP International Population Conferences;

Organized and chaired sessions "Recent fertility change: Quantum and tempo effects" and "Recent fertility change: Quantum and tempo effects. Further perspectives", XXVII IUSSP International Population Conference in Busan, August 2013;

Served on the programme committee and organized sessions "Projecting populations and demographic components" and "Projecting mortality", XXVIII IUSSP International Population Conference in Cape Town, November 2017.

 

Publications:

Spoorenberg, T. and V. Skirbekk (2026), "The ratio of births observed to births needed: An indicator to assess demographic sustainability", Demographic Research 54(30): 973-986.

Spoorenberg, T. (2026), "Global trends in the compression of childbearing spans, 1950–2025: A new approach to the age distribution of fertility", Journal of Population Research 43(12).

Schubert, H. A., T. Spoorenberg, C. Dudel and V. Skirbekk (2026), "Masculinization of populations reverses sex difference in fertility", PNAS 123(17): e2533317123.

Spoorenberg, T. and V. Skirbekk (2026), "A concentration of reproduction to later ages? A worldwide assessment of trends in fertility timing", Population and Development Review 52(1): 201-219. Highlighted in the Population Council's Insights.

Spoorenberg, T. (2024), "The concentration of reproduction during the fertility transition in developing countries", Population and Development Review 50(4): 1353–1368.

Spoorenberg, T., E. Ø. Carlsen, M. Flatø, M. Stonawski, and V. Skirbekk (2024), "The global adolescent fertility decline is counteracted by increasing teen births in sub-Saharan Africa", Studies in Family Planning 55(3): 229–245.

 
Honorary or professional positions and awards:
 
Certificate of Appreciation, National University of Mongolia, 2008