Theory pertaining to low fertility
Abstract
Demographic transition refers to the process whereby populations shift from regimes of high mortality and high fertility in approximate long-run equilibrium (zero population growth) to a new equilibrium at low levels of mortality and fertility. Most European and overseas European societies experienced such a transition between about 1870 and 1930. Formulation of theoretical explanations of the transition proceeded in the second quarter of the 20th century with the solid evidence of the European transition in full and recent view. The transition has been formulated in grand terms as a process that had occurred in this brief period of time after 100,000 years of human history and, by implication, that would set the agenda for the next 100,000 years. Such grandeur places transition theory at the core of demography because it gives demographers a place at the table of development of grand social theory.