The XXVII International Population Conference was held in Busan, Korea, from 26 to 31 August 2013. Over 2,100 population scientists, students and policy makers from 106 countries attended the conference to present and share their research and/or exchange on population issues in formal and informal events planned during the Conference. The IUSSP is very grateful to the Korean National Organizing Committee (NOC) for their extraordinary hospitality and the efforts they made to organize this Conference.
A survey of participants conducted shortly after the Conference showed that the Conference was a very positive experience for a large majority of respondents. Results show in particular that respondents appreciated the scientific quality of the Conference as well as their stay in Busan.
Conference figures:
4,159 submissions to the Call for Papers
1,469 total communications accepted on the programme
984 papers presented in the 268 regular sessions
485 posters presented in the 4 Poster sessions
2,459 population scientists listed as authors, session chairs and discussants
8 NOC sessions on Asia Pacific
4 plenary sessions
3 sessions on training (in addition to the 10 side meetings dedicated to training)
25 side meetings organized by 27 institutions
32 exhibit booths
Opening Ceremony
Keynote speech - François Héran
The Opening Ceremony included live addresses by Park Un-tae (IOC President), Peter McDonald (IUSSP President), Chin Young (Minister of Health and Welfare), and Hur Nam-sik (Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City); video addresses by Park Geun-hye (President of the Republic of Korea), Ban Ki-moon (United Nations Secretary-General), and Babatunde Osotimehin (UNFPA Executive Director); and a keynote speech by François Héran (former Director of INED, the French national institute of demographic studies) on “Fertility and family-support policies: what can be learned from the European experiences?”.
Little Angels
It was followed by a performance by the dance troupe Little Angels Children’s Folk Ballet of Korea and then by a Welcome Reception hosted by the Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City.
Plenary Sessions
UNFPA Plenary: Population in the post-2015 Development Agenda Chair: François Farah (United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA))
Digital Ageing as a Solution for Population Ageing Sang-Chul Park, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
IUSSP Plenary Debate: For developing countries, economic development needs to be a higher priority than environmental protection and conservation of natural resources Chair: Peter McDonald (Australian National University)
Asia Gavin W. Jones, National University of Singapore
Europe Wendy Sigle-Rushton, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Latin America Albert Esteve Palos, Centre d'Estudis Demografics
Closing Ceremony
Junior Demographer
The Closing Ceremony included closing addresses by Park Un-tae (IOC President), Peter McDonald (outgoing IUSSP President), a presentation by the recipient of the 2013 IUSSP–Mattei Dogan Foundation Award for Comparative Research in Demography, Gunnar Andersson (Stockholm University), and a speech by the incoming IUSSP President for 2014-2017, Anastasia Gage (Tulane University). These addresses were followed by the Poster Awards Ceremony, presided by Myoung-Ock Ahn (CHA Unisversity), and by a speech on behalf of Junior Demographers given by Hasnani Rangkuti (Australian National University).
The 27th General Assembly of the IUSSP brought together approximately 300 IUSSP members. Emily Grundy (Secretary General and Treasurer) reported on the Union’s activities and financial situation. Peter McDonald (IUSSP President) presented the report of the 2010-2013 Committee on Nominations and presented the list of candidates proposed by Council for the 2014-2017 Committee on Nominations. The General Assembly ended with statements from two countries, South Africa and India, wishing to host the 2017 International Population Conference. The General Assembly report is available on the IUSSP website.
2013 IUSSP Laureate
John Bongaarts (Population Council) received the 23rd IUSSP Laureate Award during a ceremony following the IUSSP General Assembly on Thursday 28 August.
Side meetings and exhibit booths
Conference participants could visit booths set up by 32 institutions, publishers, research institutes and other organizations working in the population field. Twenty-five side meetings were organized during the Conference. The Conference evaluation conducted after the conference indicated good attendance with 89% of respondents visiting the exhibit booths and 56% attending at least one side meeting.
Social and cultural activities
In addition to the Welcome Reception hosted by the Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City on Monday 26 August, the Korean NOC organized a special banquet dinner for all delegates of the Conference on Wednesday 28 August.
Participants
IPC Sex ratio
Based on the 1,264 participants who registered online before the conference, the gender distribution was fairly balanced on the whole: 628 women (49.7%) and 636 men (50.3%). The proportion of women was higher for participants under 34. Participants younger than 34 accounted for 33% of all participants.
IPC-residence
Participants hailed from all regions of the globe, but more than half the participants were from Asia; not a surprise given the location of the conference.
Most participants were scholars and researchers (45%) or students (32%), but there were also many who worked for national governments, international and national NGOs (19%).
The XXVII International Population Conference was held in Busan, Korea, from 26 to 31 August 2013. Over 2,100 population scientists, students and policy makers from 106 countries attended the conference to present and share their research and/or exchange on population issues in formal and informal events planned during the Conference. The IUSSP is very grateful to the Korean National Organizing Committee (NOC) for their extraordinary hospitality and the efforts they made to organize this Conference. 
All conference abstracts and/or papers, PowerPoints of presentations made in plenary sessions and a complete Conference Report are available on the Busan Conference page IUSSP website.
4,159 submissions to the Call for Papers
2013 IUSSP-Mattei Dogan Foundation Award for Comparative Research in Demography
How informative are vital registration data for estimating maternal mortality? A Bayes-ian analysis of WHO adjustment data and parameters • Fengqing Chao and Leontine Alkema, National University of Singapore. 
The schooling of migrant children across contexts: US- and Mexican-born children of Immigrants in the United States and Mexico • Jennifer E Glick, Carey E. Cooper and Scott T. Yabiku, Arizona State University. 
Sex-Selection in Pakistan: uncovering the truth • R. Batool Zaidi and Phil Morgan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
Household demographic and socio-economic predictors of agricultural practices, land use and environmental degradation perception of the Paute catchment (Ecuador) • Raul Vanegas, Fabrice F.D. Demoulin and Sabine JF Henry, University of Namur. 
2013 IUSSP Laureate
Social and cultural activities 
