John, Ben Malinga, and Sara Yeatman. (2026). "Marital Dissolution, Repartnering, and the Realization of Fertility Desires in Sub‐Saharan Africa." Population and Development Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.70085
John, Ben Malinga, and Natalie Nitsche. (2025). "Prevalence and Drivers of Stalls and Reversals in Age at First Marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa". Population Research and Policy Review 44(3): 26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-024-09932-0
John, Ben Malinga, and Natalie Nitsche. 2023. "Indirect estimation of the timing of first union dissolution with incomplete marriage histories." Demography 60(2): 411–430. https://doi.org/10.1215/00703370-10581068
John, Ben Malinga, and Natalie Nitsche. 2022. "Dynamics of Union Dissolution in Sub‐Saharan Africa". Population and Development Review 48(4): 1163-1201. https://doi.org/10.1111/padr.12529
John, Ben Malinga, and Vissého Adjiwanou. 2022. "Fertility decline in sub-Saharan Africa: Does remarriage matter?" Population Studies 76(2): 213-233. https://doi.org/10.1080/00324728.2021.1933148
2025 – 2030: Head, University of Malawi–Max Planck Partner Group, University of Malawi, Malawi
2022 – 2025: Committee Member, International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) Panel on COVID-19, Fertility, and the Family
2014 – to date: Editorial Board Member, Population Research and Policy Review
2020– to date: Member, International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP).
2020– to date: Member, Union for African Population Studies (UAPS).
2025: Session Chair, “Union Dissolution Across Life Stages,” 30th International Population Conference of the IUSSP, Brisbane, Australia
2025: Global South Visiting Fellow, Australian National University, Australia
2020–2024: Doctoral Researcher in Sociological Demography, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, and Stockholm University, Sweden.
2024: Research Scientist, Department of Social Demography, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany
2022: Jan M. Hoem Best Paper Award for a Junior Research Scientist, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany
2019 – 2026: Lecturer, Department of Sociology and Population Studies, University of Malawi, Zomba, Malawi
2018: Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS) Grant awardee, University of Cape Town, South Africa
July 2025 – August 2025: Global South Visiting Fellow Grant (Australian National University, €8,537.75; Role: Principal Applicant). Supports collaborative research, academic exchange, and research capacity strengthening.
February 2016 – December 2017: Hewlett Foundation Scholarship for MPhil Studies (University of Cape Town, €7,522.13; Role: Scholarship Recipient).
2018: Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS) Grant (University of Cape Town; Role: Grant Recipient; amount not specified).
Ben Malinga John is a demographer and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Population Studies at the University of Malawi. He leads the University of Malawi–Max Planck Partner Group, advancing demographic research and data infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa. His research focuses on family demography, fertility, and demographic methods, with particular emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. He developed the Indirect Life Table of First Union Dissolution (ILTUD), a method for estimating union dissolution patterns from incomplete marriage histories. Dr John is also currently establishing the Malawi University Graduate Internet Panel (MUGIP), a longitudinal study of family formation and the transition to adulthood among university-educated young adults. His work has appeared in leading journals, including Demography, Population Studies, Population and Development Review, and Population Research and Policy Review. He serves on the editorial board of Population Research and Policy Review and was a member of the IUSSP Panel on COVID-19, Fertility, and the Family (2022–2025). He received the 2022 Jan M. Hoem Best Paper Award for a Junior Research Scientist.