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Why Populations Grow-
1. The population growth rates of less economically developed countries are very rapid compared to more economically developed countries. Some economically developed counties, such as Japan, actually have negative population growth because the death rate is higher than the birth rate. Due to the negative population growth in Japan, it's expected to lose about 21% of its population by 2050.
2. One way to measure population growth in an area is to find the Doubling Time, which is the amount of time it takes for the population to be double what it was initially. This is calculated by dividing 70 by the growth rate.
3. The main factors that influence population growth/ change are the rate of natural increase (the birth rate minus the death rate), and net migration rate. The birth rate is the number of live births per 1000 people per year, and the death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 people per year. These numbers tell us how much the population is changing naturally, and net migration rate tells us how the population is changed due to immigration and emigration.

The Demographic Transition Theory-
1. The world's population is around 7 billion people, and increases by 67000 people every six or seven hours. Many people are worried that overpopulation could cause a major resource shortage. The reason for this many people is because fertility rates are much higher than mortality rates, so there's a large gap between the amount of people being born yearly, and the amount of people dying yearly, mostly in less industrialized and less economically developed countries. The population has hit exponential growth, and isn't expected to level off until we reach about 9 or 10 billion people in 2050.
2. Most of human history was spent in Stage 1 of the demographic transition, where both birth rates and death rates were very high. The high death rate was due to the plague, famine, war, and poor living conditions that preceded the industrial and medical revolutions. The high birth rate was due to children being seen as an asset/ free labor by people since they all pretty much lived in rural areas, rather than in urban cities that wouldn't accommodate large families and had many people who could work jobs. Also, women were only seen as homemakers and birthers, and it was expected for them to have many children, mostly sons.
3. In Stage 2 of the demographic transition, mortality rates drop due to better living conditions and better medicine, while birth rates stay high because of advancements in medicine to make pregnancy and birthing safer, as well as women and children still being seen as a man's property, and a sign of his wealth. This leads to a larger population.

Demographic Transition-
1. The demographic transition states that a country's population will stop growing when the country transitions from high birth rates and high death rates to low birth rates and low death rates, stabilizing the population. This stabilization of population often occurs in industrialized, developed countries. Growth rate measures how much a population either grows or shrinks in a period of time. Most countries have a positive growth rate, which means their population is getting bigger.
2. To measure the growth rate of a county, we have to know the birth rate, death rate, immigration rate, emigration rate, and initial population. We start with the initial population, add the number of immigrants and the number of births, then subtract the number of emigrants and the number of deaths. Then, subtract the initial population from the current population, divide it by the initial population, and multiply by 100. A positive growth rate means the population is increasing, and a negative growth rate means the population is decreasing.
3. In countries like Japan, where there are low birth rates, there are government incentives for having children. In many places, children are seen as an asset, and many women are expected to have children, so most places have a positive growth rate. Religion is also a factor of population growth, since many religions promote large families to encourage a stronger religious community. Some religions even forbid the use of birth control. Cultural influences cause population growth as well, since it's not only encouraged, but expected for people to start having children and building a family at a certain age. This kind of pressure from family can encourage people to have children when they wouldn't have otherwise.

I think the Khan Academy video was most helpful (Demographic Transition). It explained population growth, population growth factors, and the demographic transition in a way that was easy to comprehend and learn from.

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