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Paul Demeny (1932 – 18 October 2024) was a Hungarian demographer and economist known for pioneering the concept ofDemeny voting.[1]
Demeny was born inNyíregyháza, Hungary in 1932. He graduated from the Reformed College of Debrecen in 1951 and from theUniversity of Budapest in 1955. He then attended theGraduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva in 1957. He eventually received a PhD in economics fromPrinceton University in 1961. At Princeton, his mentors were demographersFrank W. Notestein andAnsley J. Coale, as well as economistsWilliam Baumol,Oscar Morgenstern andJacob Viner.[2][3]
Demeny was appointed assistant professor of economics at Princeton University in 1961, and as research associate at Princeton'sOffice of Population Research, a research center. In 1966, he moved to theUniversity of Michigan and in 1969 to theUniversity of Hawaii. In 1973, he joined thePopulation Council, a U.S.-based non-profit, as vice president and director of its Demographic Division. There, he founded thePopulation and Development Review, a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal.[4]
Demeny is known for introducing the idea ofDemeny voting in 1986.[5] Demeny voting is a system that would "let custodial parents exercise the children's voting rights," with the goal of "mak(ing) the political system more responsive to the young generation's interests" and addressing the threat ofgerontocracy.[6][7]
Demeny died on 18 October 2024, at the age of 91.[8]
In 2003, he was named laureate of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population.[9] In 2018, he was awarded theHungarian Order of St. Stephen.[10]
