Understanding Population Growth

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Recommended: Critique of Demographic Transition Theory

“The study of human characteristics of human populations” is known as demography which helps depict the progress of nations at many levels (Know, Marston, Imort and Nash, 2011, p. 99). Also it displays information that can relate to the current problems that the nations are facing. The advancement of populations is measured using the demographic transition theory which consists of four main phases, with unique characteristics that countries are grouped within. Studies conducted on these nations are significant as it helps us gain an understanding of the current position the country is in, and how it can develop into an industrialized nation.
According to the demographic transition theory, countries are grouped within four phases ranging from pre-industrial to an industrialized based economic system. The demographic transition theory is a, “model of population change when high birth and death rates are replaced by low birth and death rates” (Knox, et. al., 2011, p 114). To begin with, the first phase is characterized by a pre-industrialized economic based system, with high fertility rates and high mortality rates. From the data given to us for the 1950’s, it appears as if we could group Brazil, China, India and Kenya into the first category, as each of these countries possessed these characteristics. Going forward, the second phase is known as the transition stage where the death rates drop rapidly due to improvements in food supply and hygiene which increases the average life span of the citizens, as well reduces the spreading of diseases. However, in this phase the fertility rates still remain high, and this results in rapid growth of the population. In 2010, Kenya and India slowly made their way into this st...

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...e population growth around the world is the one child policy in times where populations are growing uncontrollably, and the introduction of contraception techniques to the general population. Current population patterns show that there is an uneven population distribution around the world. When small landmasses have such large populations it causes various problems like lack of resources, and disrupts transportation of goods throughout the land. This is one of the problems that this demographic data predicts. Overall, demographic information is valuable for many nations as it can help us identify potential problems, and project population patterns in the future.

Works Cited

Knox, P. L., Marston, S. A., Imort, M., & Nash, A. E. (2011). Human geography: places and regions in global context (4th Canadian ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.

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