Joseph Chamie, an international demographer, is a former director of the United Nations Population Division at United Nations Headquarters in New York City and later research director at the Center for Migration Studies, also in New York City.

He was born and grew up in the Detroit area. After completing high school, he studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After four years of study, he graduated with a B.S. degree in mathematics.

After graduation, he had a two-year government service appointment abroad in Asia. Subsequently, he returned to the University of Michigan for his graduate studies. After several years, he received his doctoral degree in sociology, majoring in the field of fertility. His research and studies resulted in the publication of his first book, “Religion and Fertility: Arab Christian-Muslim Differentials," which was an American Sociological Association monograph.

He has worked in various regions, specializing primarily in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. In addition to his work in national health programs, he has first-hand experience with the diverse problems of less developed countries as well as those of more developed nations.

He lived for several years in a rural village in Bihar, India, working in healthcare. In addition, he lived in areas of civil conflict, having spent six years with the United Nations in Beirut, Lebanon. He has also conducted research and taught at universities in the United States and abroad.

He served at the United Nations in the field of population and development, both overseas and in New York City, for more than a quarter century. Among his major duties was deputy secretary-general for the 1994 United Nations International Conference for Population and Development.

During his career with the United Nations, he has been responsible for a variety of activities, including:

• Estimates and projections of population;
  
• Assessing national population policies;
  
• Determinants and consequences of population trends;
  
• Population and development interrelationships; and
  
• International conferences on population and development.
  

In addition to completing numerous studies and reports issued under United Nations authorship, he has also authored numerous publications in his own name in such areas as fertility, marriage, population estimates and projections, aging, urbanization, mortality, gender, international migration, irregular migration, and population and development policy.

One of his books published in 2021 is “Births, Deaths, Migrations, and Other Important Population Matters: A Collection of Short Essays." His most recent book is a follow-up volume, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials: More Important Population Matters."