In highly developed countries like the United States the natural increase rate is generally very low, it might even be negative. But, the natural increase rate only reflects the changes in population caused by births and deaths; it does not consider immigration and emigration. Much of the population growth in the United States is driven by immigration and the fact that newly arrived immigrants are much more likely to have large families.

In stage three of the demographic transition model a country’s death rate has already fallen and it’s birth rate is in the process of falling as well. The death rate in Morocco has fallen dramatically in the half-century since independence, but the birth rate has only recently begun to fall to match this decline. Nigeria and South Sudan are both still in stage two of the demographic transition process (falling death rates, steady birth rates); Sweden and Denmark are both in stage four of the demographic transition process (low death rates, low birth rates).

All of these countries are in either stage two or stage three (the transitional stages) of the demographic transition model, except Japan, which is in stage four. Stage four is generally considered the final stage of the demographic transition model. In stage four, the birth rates and the death rates are both low and generally steady. In Japan, the death rate is very low and the birth rate is very low, leading to a steady population and perhaps even a slight population decline.

The natural increase rate does not consider immigration or emigration. It is determined by subtracting the number of deaths from the number of births in a given region. So, if there are ten thousand deaths and thirteen thousand births in a given region, in a given time period, the natural increase rate is three thousand.

The “doubling time” refers to the amount of time it takes for the population of a region to double. The number is based on the annual increase in population as a percentage of the original population. An annual increase of one percent of the population will cause the population to have a “doubling time” of seventy years. An annual increase of four percent of the population will lead to a “doubling time” of sixteen years. This might seem incredibly fast, and indeed it is. The reason for this is that population compounds as it grows, much like compound interest.

All of these answer choices affect the “natural increase rate” of a country. The following are general rules, of which there are some exceptions: as access to education becomes more universal the “natural increase rate” will decline; government policies that institute population control programs will cause the “natural increase rate” to decline; the more empowered women are in a society, and the more gender equality there is, the lower the “natural increase rate.” Finally, cultural customs—like emphasizing the importance of motherhood—can have significant impacts on the “natural increase rate.”

Demography is the study of human population. Specifically, demography generally involves the study of statistics concerning things like birth and death rates, fertility and public health, income, ethnicity, and outbreaks of disease.

Malthus’ “principle of population” states that eventually, population growth will exceed the capacity of agricultural production, which will lead to widespread starvation and suffering. Over the years, many detractors have proposed various arguments in opposition to Malthus’ theories. Two of the most prominent arguments are that a) population growth will slow due to the availability of contraception and the desire of governments to limit growth and b) technological innovation can lead to dramatic improvements in agricultural production, which allow it to keep up with the growth in population.

Thomas Malthus was an economist during the Enlightenment in Europe. In the late eighteenth century he wrote Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) which argues that food production increases arithmetically (linearly) and that population grows geometrically (exponentially). According to Malthus this would mean that eventually the population growth would exceed the growth in food production causing widespread starvation and suffering. Malthus’ arguments continue to be widely influential today.

The Natural Increase Rate and the Demographic Accounting Equation are both calculations used to determine the current or projected population growth of a region. The Demographic Accounting Equation is more comprehensive because it takes into account immigration and emigration, whereas the Natural Increase Rate only takes into account the birth and death rates.