The Demographic Transition

Today in class, we took notes on the demographic transition. Mr. Schick told us that our essay exam is on Friday December 13, 2019. We will take our demographic transitions quiz on Monday December 9, 2019. Next week, we will be working on our essays. Below are the notes that I thought were key facts.

The demographic transition is a process of change in a society's population from high crude birth and death rates and low rate of natural increase to a condition of low crude birth and death rates, low rate of natural increase, and higher total population. Industrial Revolution, which involved major improvements in manufacturing goods and delivering them to market, caused Europe and North America to enter stage 2. The late-twentieth-century push of developing countries into stage 2 was caused by the medical revolution. The World Health Organization launched a program during the 1970s to immunize children in a number of countries, including The Gambia. This sent The Gambia into stage 2 because the CDR declined rapidly, whereas the CBR remained high, thus raising the NIR. A country moves from stage 2 to stage 3 of the demographic transition when the CBR begins to drop sharply. A country reaches stage 4 of the demographic transition when the CBR declines to the point where it equals the CDR and the NIR approaches zero. This condition is called zero population growth (ZPG). Women in stage 4 societies enter the labor force rather than remain at home as full-time-homemakers. The demographic transition model explains the changes in the natural increase rate as they relate to economic and industrial development. Stage 1 of the demographic transition is one of highest birth rates and death rates and consequently very low growth. Stage 2 is one of high growth because death rates decline, and birth rates remain high. Researchers assume that countries enter stage 2 because they go through the Industrial Revolution. Developing countries have moved into stage 2 because of a medical revolution. Countries will move from stage 2 to stage 3 when their crude birth rates drop sharply as a result of changes in social and economic patterns that will encourage people to have fewer children. Countries will reach stage 4 of the demographic transition because their birth rates will continue to decline until the natural increase rate drops to zero. It could be argued that some countries have entered a stage 5 for which the demographic transition does not account.