Chinese demographer Zeng Yi was elected a member of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) along with 13 other researchers from the Chinese mainland at the 28th TWAS General Meeting in Trieste, Italy, on November 28.

TWAS was founded in 1983 by a distinguished group of scientists from the developing world to promote scientific research in developing countries.

Zeng was chosen for his outstanding contributions to research on fertility policy transition and the cross-natural-social sciences study of healthy aging.

Born in 1952 in east China's Jiangxi Province, he received a bachelor's degree in economic geography from the Shanghai-based East China Normal University in 1982. He received a PhD in demography from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 1986 and finished his post-doctorate studies at Princeton University in 1987.

Zeng became a professor at Peking University in 1989 and served as director of the Institute of Population Research at the university from 1993 to 1998.