What is the demographic transition? Describe the stages in the transition, giving examples of nations in each stage. What major nondemographic events accompanied the changes from one stage to the next?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The ideal answer should include:
1. Demographic transition: A process by which a population moves through several stages: first, a stage in which a high birthrate is largely canceled out by a high death rate; second, a stage in which the birthrate remains high but the death rate declines; and third, final equilibrium in which the birth and death rates are lower, but the population is much larger
2. The first stage is characteristic of peasant and primitive populations before large-scale improvement in sanitation, health care, and other improvements.
3. The second stage includes a period of rapid population growth as traditional values about family size, together with the lack of birth control techniques, keep the birthrate high while technological advances produce a steady decrease in the death rate, especially of infants. Most LDCs are in this stage.
4. In the third stage, which is characteristic of developed industrialized societies, values change, the birthrate declines, and rates of natural increase slow down.