Elizabeth Leahy Madsen

Program Director, International Programs

Elizabeth Leahy Madsen is a program director in International Programs. She leads PRB’s Empowering Evidence-Driven Advocacy project and serves as deputy director for global programs on PACE. Madsen has 16 years’ experience developing and implementing research and advocacy programs, specializing in family planning policy, political demography, modeling, and the intersections between population and multisectoral development. Before joining PRB in 2016, Madsen was a senior technical advisor at Palladium/Futures Group and a senior research associate at PAI. She is the author of dozens of technical reports, journal articles, book chapters, and online essays and has managed partnerships in more than 10 countries. Madsen holds a master’s degree in international affairs from The George Washington University and a bachelor’s in international relations from Knox College.

Recent Publications

By Elizabeth Leahy Madsen and Charlotte Greenbaum

Family Planning Equity Among Youth: Where Are We Now?

While the gap in demand satisfied for modern family planning between rich and poor young women is improving, equitable access to family planning is still challenging. Wealth-based inequity remains persistent in most regions of sub-Saharan Africa, even accounting for factors such as educational attai…

May 15, 2018

By Sara Harris, Meredith Pierce and Elizabeth Leahy Madsen

Youth Family Planning Policy Scorecard

Governments around the world have made great strides in creating policies that support young people. Increasingly, countries have formalized the rights of adolescents and young people to access sexual and reproductive health services.

March 2, 2018

By Jessica Kali, Elizabeth Leahy Madsen and Richard Cincotta

The Four Dividends

This web feature expands the concept of the demographic dividend to project four potential sets of benefits—in addition to economic growth, it outlines benefits in child survival, education, and political stability.

February 7, 2018

By Elizabeth Leahy Madsen and Kristin Bietsch

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting Declining in Many Countries

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: Data and Trends Update 2017, produced with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, provides the latest data on the practice in 29 developing countries with representative and comparable data—although FGM/C occurs worldwide.

February 5, 2017