Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Demetrios G. Papademetriou was a Distinguished Transatlantic Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, which he co-founded and led as its first President until 2014 and where he remained President Emeritus until his death in January 2022. He served until 2018 as the founding President of MPI Europe, a nonprofit, independent research institute in Brussels that aims to promote a better understanding of migration trends and effects within Europe.
Honoring the Life of Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Friends and colleagues from around the world came together in March 2022 to celebrate Dr. Papademetriou's legacy during a tribute event in Washington, DC. To watch the event video, click on the image below.
For more on his remarkable legacy, read the MPI statement and a collection of tributes.
To read the obituary or to leave any memories for his family, click here.
During MPI's 20th anniversary celebration in 2021, its internship program was renamed the Demetrios G. Papademetriou Young Scholars Program in honor of the career-long dedication that he exhibited in training, mentoring, and helping the careers of the next generation of migration thinkers around the world.
To support the Young Scholars program, click here.
He was the convener of the Transatlantic Council on Migration, which is composed of senior public figures, business leaders, and public intellectuals from Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia. He also convened the Regional Migration Study Group in 2011–15, an initiative that has proposed and is promoting multi-stakeholder support for new regional and collaborative approaches to migration, competitiveness, and human-capital development for the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America.
Dr. Papademetriou co-founded Metropolis: An International Forum for Research and Policy on Migration and Cities (which he led as International Chair for the initiative’s first five years and where he continued to serve as International Chair Emeritus); and served as Chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Migration (2009-11); Founding Chair of the Advisory Board of the Open Society Foundations' International Migration Initiative (2010-15); Chair of the Migration Group of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); Director for Immigration Policy and Research at the U.S. Department of Labor and Chair of the Secretary of Labor's Immigration Policy Task Force; and Executive Editor of the International Migration Review.
He published more than 275 books, articles, monographs, and research reports on a wide array of migration topics, lectured widely on all aspects of immigration and immigrant integration policy, and advised foundations and other grant-making organizations, civil-society groups, and senior government and political party officials, in dozens of countries (including numerous European Union Member States while they hold the rotating EU presidency).
Dr. Papademetriou held a PhD in comparative public policy and international relations (1976) from the University of Maryland and taught at the universities of Maryland, Duke, American, and New School for Social Research.
Bio Page Tabs
Recent Activity
MPI's symposium on citizenship examined immigrant civic and political participation, the notion of local voting rights for noncitizens, the concept and practice of dual citizenship, and the role of citizenship in immigrant integration.
As with an increasing number of other complex issues, policymakers engaged in immigration reforms must be acutely attuned and responsive to public opinion and media representation of immigration.
This policy paper proposes creation of a permanent, independent executive-branch agency that would make regular recommendations to the president and Congress for adjusting employment-based immigration levels.The Standing Commission concept, first articulated by the MPI-convened Independent Task Force on Immigration and America's Future in its 2006 final report, would provide nonpartisan, timely, evidence-based, and impartial analysis that is vital for informed policymaking.
Immigration flows to the United States have noticeably slowed in the last year, raising fundamental questions for policymakers and analysts about the effect the economic crisis is having on inflows and return migration. MPI's Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Aaron Terrazas assess the potential impacts by examining recent data, the likely behavior of immigrants, and immigration history.
The global recession’s deepening effects on governments, public and private institutions, and individuals is increasingly taking center stage for migration policy stakeholders at both source and destination countries.
This report seeks to understand and predict the potential impact of the economic crisis that began in December 2007 on legal and illegal immigration flows to and from the United States, and the likely effects of an economic downturn on the labor market performance of immigrants.
This short briefing paper explores the potential effects of the economic crisis with respect to immigration across European Union Member States, and outlines how policymakers might respond to changing patterns of migrant inflows and outflows, and the consequences of the downturn on immigrants and their host communities.
This report explores the need for nations to adjust their thinking and policy toward attracting the coveted elite class of highly skilled global talent as emerging and middle-income countries increasingly attempt to woo back their nationals and engage their diaspora to help move their economy forward.
The Migration Crisis Is Over: Long Live the Migration Crisis
The Dutch Elections: How to Lose and Still Shape the Direction of a Country—and Possibly a Continent?
Global Refugee Summits Offer Reasons for Both Disappointment and Hope
The Field of Migration Studies Loses a Giant: Graeme Hugo