Complete the description of the demographic transition.
In the pre-industrial pattern both birth and death rates are ______, and population grows slowly with periodic crises. In the transition the ______ rate falls first while births stay high, which is where the rapid growth comes from. Only later does the ______ rate fall too, and growth slows again. England’s population roughly ______ between 1801 and 1851.
Word bank: high · death · birth · doubled · low · halved
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- The growth happens in the gap between two curves.
- The gap opens because one rate falls before the other.
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In the pre-industrial pattern both birth and death rates are high, and population grows slowly with periodic crises. In the transition the death rate falls first while births stay high, which is where the rapid growth comes from. Only later does the birth rate fall too, and growth slows again. England’s population roughly doubled between 1801 and 1851.
The model is a description, not an explanation, it says when growth happens without saying why mortality fell. That question is still open: nutrition, the retreat of plague, smallpox vaccination and changes in the age at marriage all contribute, and no single factor accounts for the size of the change.
Practise Demographic and Economic Change
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