Demographics Transitions

Demographic Transitions

Demographic transition is the process in which a nation transitions from being a less industrialized

society, with high birth and death rates, to an industrialized nation, with lower birth and death rates.

Many countries have already been through this transition including the United States, England, and

Canada.

The demographic transition to an industrialized society is detrimental for the environment because

industrialized societies tend to use up nonrenewable resources and give off pollution. Industrialized

nations have the largest ecological and carbon footprint relative to developing or nonindustrialized

countries. Fortunately, there are some benefits to the process of demographic transition, including

lower birth and death rates. Essentially, people in industrialized countries have fewer children and this

in turn helps control the overall population size.

Demographic transition involves the following five stages:

Stage 1 High birth rate, high death rate, low population size

Stage 2 High birth rate, decreasing death rate, increasing

population size

Stage 3 Decreasing birth rate, decreasing death rate, increasing

population size

Stage 4 Low birth rate, low death rate, high population size

Stage 5 Low birth rate, low death rate, population size

decreasing

It should be noted that stage 5 is controversial, and it is sometimes not considered to be a stage. This is

partially because so few countries are at this stage.

The following graph depicts the various stages of demographic transition:

Using the stages listed above, create a demographic and environmental timeline for one industrialized

country, excluding the United States. The following are a few suggested industrialized nations:

• Canada

• England

• Germany

• Russia

• Italy

You can download the Demographic and Environmental Timeline—United States of America to review

an example of such a timeline. (SEE ATTACHEMENT!!!)

Include the following points in your timeline in order to examine the advantages and drawbacks of

demographic transition in your selected country:

• Major historical changes that caused the shift from one stage to another (if available).

• Changing population size through time (increasing or decreasing).

• Increase or decrease of birth and death rates through time—particularly when considering the

process of industrialization.

• Environmental impact of this transition.

• Dates (if available), series of events, and scholarly references for these items.

Support your timeline with appropriate examples

Present your timeline in a media that best displays the information you researched.

1. CAN BE EITHER POWERPOINT (minimum of 6 slides not including

title or reference slide)

2. OR CAN BE MICROSOFT WORD (Minimum of 4 pages not

including title and reference pages)

• APA FORMAT

• NO PLAIGARISM

• Minimum of 3 American References

• MUST include appropriate examples throughout the

timeline

• Due April 10th, 2018 by 5:00pm