Demographic and Behavioral Sciences

The Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch (DBSB) of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) supports scientific research on the processes that underlie human population growth, change, and well-being. As one of three branches in the Center for Population Research (CPR), the DBSB supports a research portfolio that looks intensively at the demographic processes of fertility, mortality, and migration, and at their broad interrelationships with larger social, economic, and cultural processes. Originally motivated by concerns about rapid population growth, the Branch has evolved over time, and today addresses a wide range of issues critical to the mission of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).