JSS Institute of Economic Research (IER) (Est. 1957) and Population Research Centre (PRC) Dharwad (Est.1961) are governed by the Janata Shikshana Samiti (JSS), Dharwad and sponsored by Ministry of Health and Family welfare,GoI, New Delhi. PRC, Dharwad has 25 sanctioned positions headed by Professor& Director. Activities of the Centre mainly include research in the broad areas of Demography, Reproductive and Child Health. Since 1961, the Centre has produced 228 Research Reports, 256 Analytical Reports and 65 Working Papers covering various issues on Family Planning, Reproductive and Child Health, Adolescents, HIV/AIDs, RTI/STI, Anemia, Nutrition, Abortion, Ageing etc. During recent years, the Centre has involved in NHM-PIP Monitoring and HMIS Data Verification in various states of India viz., Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Assam. Apart from the work assigned by MoHFW, the Centre undertakes projects in collaboration with other National and International Research Organizations. It has involved in various rounds of DHS surveys like DLHS, NFHS, LASI SAGE and IHDS. Centre organizes seminars, workshops, conferences and training programmes on various issues related to health and demography on regular basis.

The PRC maintains a reference library open to the staff of the Institute and outside researchers and students in the field of Economics, Demography and allied subjects. The library has about 16100 volumes and subscribes about 20 journals both national and international. It has the most complete collection of Census publications, books and periodicals in the field of population studies.

The Centre has good infrastructure facility like well-equipped Computer facility. It has specialized software for data entry, tabulation and statistical analysis, besides utilities for graphics and word processing. The Centre has a good building, conference hall, modern electronic information and dissemination gazettes. The Centre releases a biannual Journal entitled 'IER Journal of Health & Demography' since 2015.