Human Populations and the Environment

Demographic transition models are characterized by regions and countries registering lower mortality as well as lower birthrates as they develop into better economies due to factors such as industrialization. Advancements in technology which affect the food production as wells the health sector are major contributors to the demographic transition model and this is because technology enables people to live better. It is also important that the lower death rates can be attributed to better food security which is facilitated by the advancements in technology. This, in turn, makes sure that countries have healthy populations comprising of people who can work to ensure that the country can grow economically. The essay below will focus on the demographic transition model and its phases as well as the significance of each phase especially when it comes to food security. 

The demographic transition model was developed to help countries and economists make sense of the changes in population. This assists the demographers to address the policy issues that relate to different economies in different regions or the purpose of helping the government to plan for its people. In the first phase of the demographic transition model, the birth rates as well as the mortality rates were very high. This was attributed to the early marriages which led to increased birthrates while the death rates were as a result of the occasional pandemics that would hit the world especially during the Agrarian Revolution. Lack of family planning also resulted to many children being born at the same time into one family, and this increased their mortality rate since feeding all of them or protecting them during a calamity was a difficult task for their parents. In the second phase of the transition, there is a remarkable improvement in the health and sanitation sectors of most developed countries. This, in turn, reduces the diseases in a region and it creates a significant increase in the life expectancy. Technological advancements as well as adequate access to education are also factors that are attributed to this stage of the model since they are factors that improve the living conditions of the people. However, the birth rates continue to increase but the death rates are reduced significantly. In the third stage of the transition model, there is a significant improvement of a country’s economy. This includes shifts from an economy being agrarian to a purely industrialized economy which creates consciousness in the working class who realize that they should have small families. Increased levels of education and access to contraceptives are factors that are attributed to lower birth rates during this phase. This shows that people are beginning to understand that children are not born to provide labor to their parents but to be supported into becoming the people that they aspire to become. For the purposes of avoiding large families, people move to the urban centers and focus on acquiring jobs as well as advancing their economic status. This leaves little or no room for early marriages or large families. In the final stage of the model, there are low birthrates as well as death rates. The low birth rates may slow the population growth for decades like witnessed in countries such as Germany and Italy and this may be an issue to the industries that rely or large labor supply since the working population decreases as the years go by. (Amialchuk & Dimitrova, 2012) The death rates, on the other hand, are lower since there is a change in lifestyle and there is adequate access to healthcare and education. The high levels of literacy as well as people abandoning their cultures are the major factors that contribute to the low birth rates and death rates which, in turn, breed a slow growth in the population. 

Finally, regarding food security and availability of food in developed and developing countries, there are several factors that are considered. In the developing countries, availability of food may be determined by the prices of the food. This means that there are people who will be able to access food since they can afford it while others will starve because they cannot afford the same commodity-food. In the developing countries, the governments may lack the financial resources to provide food for their people or there maybe people who are deliberately controlling the food supply. This was seen in the Bengal famine that resulted to the death of more than 2 million people since they could not afford to buy the food at the price which it was being sold at. This is not the case in the developed countries since they have measures that ensure that they have adequate food supplies. They do this by ensuring that their farmers are fully supported by the government and that there is adequate technology to ensure food safety and security. Over the years, several measures have been put in place by the World Trade Organization to ensure that there are adequate subsidies in agricultural trade since this helps improve the access to food globally ("Food Security in Developing Countries: Is There a Role for the WTO?", 2018) . This makes it easier for countries to access the global markets to supplement their food supply. 

References  

4 Main Stages of Demographic Transition | Economic Development. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/economic-development/4-main-stages-of-demographic-transition-economic-development/19129 

Amialchuk, A., & Dimitrova, E. (2012). Detecting the Evolution of Deliberate Fertility Control before the Demographic Transition in Germany. Demographic Research , 27 , 507-542. doi: 10.4054/demres.2012.27.19 

Cassman, K. (2012). What do we need to know about global food security?. Global Food Security , 1 (2), 81-82. doi: 10.1016/j.gfs.2012.12.001 

Food Security in Developing Countries: Is There a Role for the WTO?. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.cgdev.org/publication/food-security-developing-countries-there-role-wto