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Briefly explain the Stages of the Demographic Transition.

      

Briefly explain the Stages of the Demographic Transition.

  

Answers


Martin
Stage I is the stage of high birth rates and death rates, and population growth is slow, but as industrialization, health care, nutrition and sanitation improve, death rates fall steadily.

Stage II is characterized by declining crude death rates and birth rates remain high for a generation or two, creating a gap between fertility and mortality that causes high growth rate. Majority of the European countries experienced this transition in the 18th, 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.

Stage III is the stage of declining birth rates (as a result of declining fertility rate) almost equal to death rates and the population growth rate slows down and eventually reaches near or zero growth rate. Declining fertility rates also occur due to improved education, employment standards for women and widespread adoption of family planning programmes.
Many developed countries have attained demographic transition. Developing countries, on the other hand, are trapped in stages II and III. Their death rates have declined markedly, fertility and birth rates are declining but still remain above replacement levels; hence rapid population growth in developing countries. They are caught in what is known as “Demographic Trap. The developed countries’ populations may eventually stabilize if their birth rates remain low after the transition period.

A second decline, (Stage IV) may occur in some post industrial societies, in which chronic ailments such as cardiovascular diseases, aging diseases and other degenerative diseases that account for most mortality are treated, hence improving survival. This may give rise to an additional phase of population growth (Stage V), a period of zero growth. This would be achieved if birth rate decline is accompanied by a corresponding drop in death rates. Countries such as Denmark, Sweden and Italy are experiencing this type of growth.


marto answered the question on March 20, 2019 at 11:24


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