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Article: Demographic Transition
- Article from:
- International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
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Demographic Transition
HISTORY OF THE THEORY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The term
demographic transition
originally described the major social shift that occurred in Western societies from the late nineteenth century to the 1930s. At that time, European societies, and their settler offshoots overseas, moved with considerable speed from a high-mortality, high-fertility population regime to low fertility and low mortality, with major social consequences. This historic shift saw the decline of family size from approximately six children per family to fewer than two. The transition also provided the preconditions for women to move from the private sphere and constant childbearing to the public domain and ...