- Demographic transition
- Demographic factors
- Women in developing nations


[SLIDE 1]

Demographic Transition is the shift from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates over time in industrialized countries.

Some developing nations transitioned into higher income without population growth overwhelming them. Examples include South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil that went from low-income to middle and high-income nation groups. Others are still struggling with this. Examples include countries in Africa, the middle East and Latin America.

Developing countries face real problems from too much population growth. Family planning, education and empowerment of women are important issues. Three population conferences were held in 1974, 1984 and 1994 to address this. Initially the United States was a strong supporter of this, but after facing fire from anti-abortion activists at home, withdrew this view by the 1984 conference. The 1994 conference in Cairo addressed issues such as women's rights to health care, education and employment as key to lowering population growth.


[SLIDE 2]

Dependency ratio is the ratio of the nonworking population as compared to the working age population.

Demographic dividend are factors that alleviate poverty and generate economic growth. This happens when you have a healthy population and the number of younger children decrease while the number of older people has not yet increased. This is a short window of time but many countries have taken advantage of this ‘window' of opportunity such as Mexico, South Korea and Brazil to reduce poverty while expanding economically. They have benefited from tremendous growth.

[SLIDE 3]

Women in developing countries are typically less educated and have less opportunities to work independently and do not have access to contraceptives.

There are more social pressures to get married and have as many kids as possible for old age security, to protect against infant mortality, and to work for their families. As many as 215 million women worldwide have wanted access to contraceptives to either prevent or delay pregnancy but have been unable to do so.

Two areas of the world that are radically different in this respect are Kerala in southern India and Thailand, where women have access to contraceptives and are well-educated, leading to fewer children per woman and healthier households.