Writers Den

Assignment 2: 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.

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 and a minimum of three credible resources.

Present your timeline in a
media that best displays the information you researched. This can be in
Microsoft Word, or Microsoft PowerPoint. Apply APA standards to citation of
sources