Demography is the science that measures the world's population and reveals trends in its change. To make it easier to comprehend the data, their visualization is used: a graph of population change is built. It is this graph that is called the demographic curve.
Instructions
Step 1
The demographic curve is formed by adding two components: population growth and population decline. The increase is positive and the decrease is negative. The curve can change according to different laws. If the population is constantly decreasing, then it tends downward, then it is called downward. And if the population increases, then the line goes up - this is an upward curve.
Step 2
Population growth rates vary quite significantly from era to era. They are associated, as a rule, with the general welfare of mankind, which depends on technology. Over hundreds and thousands of years, science slowly and gradually progressed, followed by the growth of the planet's population. An explosive leap in living standards occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, it was then that the population level jumped up very strongly. Then followed two world wars, which not only claimed a huge number of human lives, but also stopped population growth in developed countries.
Step 3
At present, the natural population growth in countries with a high standard of living, oddly enough, is not too high. Moreover, if we compare it with the mortality rate, it turns out that the demographic curve is descending, that is, the population naturally decreases. It is possible to maintain it at the proper level with the help of immigrants from other countries, but this method of increasing the population has a number of disadvantages, so it is kept under control and is not used too actively.
Step 4
It is generally accepted that population growth is directly related to the economic well-being of residents. This is partly true, but only up to certain limits. At some point, it turns out that economic prosperity ceases to lead to an increase in fertility. Currently, demographic scientists believe that fertility largely depends on the lifestyle of people and the type of families that form a large part of society.
Step 5
For example, the traditional family is characteristic of people who are engaged in agriculture. Several generations of people live in a large house, couples have many children. The traditional family is profitable, as it takes workers to support agriculture, so having a large number of children becomes vital for the prosperity of people.
Step 6
At the same time, in a modern industrial society, a person's income is not related to how many children he has. It depends much more on what kind of education he managed to get and what skills he possesses. Raising children requires serious financial investments, as they also need to be given a good education in order to ensure a decent future. This is one of the reasons why the birth rate in economically developed countries is decreasing.
Step 7
In Russia, the problem is also that the mortality rate is very high due to rather strange reasons. The first place among the causes of death is alcohol consumption. This includes not only health problems due to excessive drinking, but also all kinds of domestic clashes and accidents that happened to people in a state of alcoholic intoxication.
Step 8
Another feature of protracted demographic crises is that they have an inertial nature. If the birth rate does not increase for a long time, then the population of the country as a whole is aging, and the number of women of childbearing age becomes much less than it is necessary to provide a level normal for reproduction. To stabilize the situation, it is required that the number of children per woman, on average, grow quite strongly.
