The Demographic Transition (Geography)

The Demographic Transition (Geography)

The Demographic Transition


Population Structures

Population Pyramid

  • It shows the structure of the population
  • It contains the percentage of the total population divided into five year age groups and is organized from youngest to oldest
  • The males are placed on the left and the females are placed on the right
  • The length of the bar represents the percentage of people in that gender and age group

Dependency Ratio

The dependency ratio is the ratio between people who are too young or too old to work versus people who are the right age to work.

  • 0-14 and 65 and above are all the people who are considered dependent, meaning they are not a part of the working class
  • The larger the dependency ratio, the more burden that falls on the working class

Sex Ratio

The sex ratio of a country is the number of males per one hundred females.

  • More developed countries have more females because females tend to live longer
  • Less developed countries have more males because of selective abortion


Demographic Transition

The demographic transition is a process with several stages and every country is in one of the stages. (Other than the first one)

  • Stage one- Low growth (No countries)
  • High birth and death rates
  • No long term natural increase
  • Although most of the human existence was in this stage for a long time, no country is in it today
  • People depend on hunting and gathering to survive; if there was food, everyone would live, but if there wasn’t, people started to die
  • Stage two- High growth (North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa)
  • High birth rates and decreasing death rates
  • This is when people start to create healthier places to live and live longer as a result
  • North America and Europe entered this stage through the Industrial Revolution in 1750
  • Asia, Africa, and Latin America didn’t enter this stage until 1950 with the Medical Revolution
  • Stage three- Decreasing growth (North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa)
  • Both CBR and CDR are declining
  • CBR starts to drop rapidly but CDR stays low 
  • This happens when people start to have fewer kids
  • Places like this tend to be more urbanized because, in rural areas, there is more space to have kids while in urban areas kids are more expensive and there is less space to have them
  • North America and Europe moved into this stage neat the beginning of the 20th century, and the rest of the continents listed moved into this stage later
  • Stage four- Low growth (Europe)
  • Both CBR and CDR are low and stable
  • This happens when the birth rate becomes so low that the CDR and NIR reach zero. This phenomenon is called ZPG (Zero Population Growth)
  • The CBR is still relatively higher than the CDR, but women tend to start dying before they can even have children, and this causes the number of children being born to reduce. Women also start to become more interested in having a job rather than starting a family.

Potential Stage Five

Stage 5 would be what would occur when the population starts rising again. This will result in a rising birth rate, low death rate, and stable or slow increase.