Established in 1980, the Institute of Population Research is one of the earliest institutions in Chinese universities to set up a major in population economics. Since 1985, it has received funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).Its research areas include Environmental Economics, Labor Economics, Health and Health Economics, and Labor Economics and Social Security. The Institute offers a master's degree program in Population, Resources, and Environmental Economics.

The Institute has undertaken more than 30 research projects at all levels, including projects funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Social Science Foundation of China, key bidding projects of the Ministry of Education’s Social Science Base, and horizontal scientific research projects from various government departments such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China. It has won more than 20 scientific research achievement awards at the government, provincial and ministerial levels and other categories.