Michel Poulain

Michel Poulain
Michel Poulain
Born	June 7, 1947 (age 77); Châtelineau, Belgium
Alma mater	Université catholique de Louvain
	Scientific career
Fields	Demography, Longevity

Michel Poulain was born on 7 June 1947 in Châtelet, Belgium. Originally skilled in astrophysics at Université of Liège (ULg) he received a PhD in demography at Université catholique de Louvain (UCL). As demographer, he is specialized in international Migration Statistics and Longevity studies. Currently emeritus professor at UCL, he is also senior researcher at the Estonian Institute for Population Studies at Tallinn University (Estonia). He has been President of the Société Belge de Démographie^[1] (1984-1990) and later of the Association Internationale des Démographes de Langue Française^[2] (AIDELF), (1988-2000).

Since 1989, he contributed to the harmonization of international migration statistics at the level of European Union (THESIM^[3]) and thereafter worldwide with the International Organization of Migration (IOM^[4]). Involved in centenarian’s studies since 1992 he validated the age of numerous supercentenarians including Antonio Todde, Johan Riudavets and Emma Moreno and invalidated the one of Kamato Hongo. In 2000, he introduced the concept of Blue Zone related to population experiencing exceptionally high longevity and identified with Gianni Pes the first Blue Zone in Sardinia^[5]. Thereafter he cooperated with Dan Buettner to investigate additional Blue Zones in Okinawa, Costa Rica and Ikaria (Greece).

References

[1] Société Belge de Démographie

[2] Association Internationale des Démographes de Langue Française

[3] THESIM

[4] International Organization of Migration

[5] Identification of a geographic area characterized by extreme longevity in the Sardinia island: the AKEA study

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]