Watching 3 Demographic Transition Videos

Khan Academy Video:

1. You can find the growth rate of a country by subtracting the initial population from the current population and then dividing by the initial population. Once you do that, you can multiply that new number by 100 to get a percentage. 
2. The first stage of the demographic transition shows a decrease in population. The second and third stages show an increase in population due to technological advances. The fourth stage shows a decrease in population because of the lowered number of people having children. 
3. The fifth stage of demographic transition is simply a theory with many questions, but some scientist and people say that the worlds population may stabilize over the years of possibly begin to decline as people continue to use up our natural resources. 

Kim Smith Video:

1. A crazy fact in this video is that the worlds population is expected to continue to grow until we reach 9-10 billion people in around 2050. To me this is a scary facts because I already worry about the 7.6 billion people we have right now on earth. We already need so many resources and supplies that we may run out of by then. 
2. In the early stages of demographic transition, the birth rates were so high because women and children were seen as property. Birth rates were higher than today because children were more beneficial to have around as an extra set of workers at the house with farming and other tasks. Today birth rates have dropped because there is not that high demand for extra labor in the homes. People still have children though to create their families, but now children become liabilities and cost more. 
3. A major concern with over population is called the demographic trap. People have theorized that if a regions population becomes to high, they will begin to lose many required and essential resources for survival so they would be pushed back into stage one. 

Why Populations Grow Video:

1. Population growth can sometimes be calculated by finding the doubling time or the time it takes a regions population to double. This can be calculated by dividing 70 by the growth rate. 
2. The lack of high death rates in developing countries is do to things such as famine, poor quality water sources, high amounts of disease from low sanitation, war, and more. The falling death rate has been improved by improved sanitation, improved food production, and improved medical items.
3. Most developed countries are found in stage four. This means their population is stable. Reasons behind this could include having strong economies, having more educated citizens, strong health care systems, more women in the work force and are highly urbanized. 

The most helpful video for me was the Khan Academy Video. I enjoyed have the visuals with graphs and images to help give me a better understanding and clearer view of what demographic transition is and how it changes over time. I also felt that the example of having a new country and showing the demographic transition over time of that one country helped me to see what is happening to the population through each stage. This video also had population periods to show the change over time which was useful for me since I had previous knowledge on how to read and understand what is happening in a population pyramid. This video helped me the most in getting a more complete understanding of what a demographic transition is.