Characteristics of Developed and Developing Countries

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Please see response attached (also presented below), as well as supporting article. I hope this helps and take care.

RESPONSE:

1. The population profiles for developed and developing countries are fundamentally different. What are the differences?

This question deals with the Dynamics of Population Growth. In fact, a demographic transition is likely to occur as a population (or economy) modernizes. When we read about population projections for this or that country, it is easy to think of ourselves as somehow removed from the system. In fact, we are all a part of some demographic trend, whether rising or falling, and our own actions will affect the size and composition of future populations. Like us, people in other countries are faced with lifestyle decisions?for instance, about education, work, and family size. These decisions are influenced by our personal histories and the patterns we have observed in our own families and the society around us.

For example, in more industrialized societies, a larger proportion of the population stays in school longer, is engaged in high-paying, complex work, and defers marriage and childbearing. With fewer childbearing years, the individual has fewer children than someone with less education and a menial job?or no job at all.

Conversely, people in less developed societies may not go to school at all, are less likely to work at complex jobs, and tend to marry and bear children earlier. In these societies, fertility rates are generally higher than in developed nations. Therefore, it is possible to observe some general patterns in birth and death rates as societies modernize and then to be able to predict these demographics for management purposes. Yet, in order to predict demographic change, we must understand the human behaviors that cause it. We must also understand that it is much more difficult to predict how these behaviors may or may not change over time. A key challenge in predicting demographics relates to uncertainties in birth rates. While medical advancements, and thus changes in death rates, can occur over a matter of years, birth rates may take generations to respond to societal change. People like to have children, especially if they have come from a large family or a culture that values children highly. Even when a society has made good progress on industrialization, it can be hard to encourage a move to a smaller family size.

2. Define the epidemiological transition and the fertility transition and relate them to the four phases of the demographic transition.

The epidemiological transition:

Characteristics of the demographic transition for developed ...