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Demographic transition is a set of changes in reproductive
behaviour that are experienced as a society is transformed from a
traditional pre-industrial state to a highly developed, modernized
structure. The transformation is the substitution of slow growth
achieved with low fertility and mortality for slow growth maintained
with relatively high fertility and mortality rates. Contrary to early
descriptions of the transition, fertility in pre-modem societies was
well below the maximum that might be attained. However, it was kept at
moderate levels by customs (such as late marriage or prolonged
breast-feeding) not related to the number of children already born.
Fertility has been reduced during the demographic transition by the
adoption of contraception as a deliberate means of avoiding additional
births. An extensive study of the transition in Europe shows the absence
of a simple link of fertility with education, proportion urban, infant
mortality and other aspects of development. It also suggests the
importance of such cultural factors as common customs associated with a
common language, and the strength of religious traditions. Sufficient
modernization nevertheless seems always to bring the transition to low
fertility and mortality.

This article begins by disputing the claim by some scholars that the concept of a demographic transition is not applicable to Japan. Next, analysis of differentials and trends in natality over the period 1920 to 1960 suggests that changes in infant mortality and the degree of child employability may have been crucial reasons for Japan's modern fertility decline. In the short run, costs of birth regulation significantly helped determine levels of marital fertility. But in the long run, changes in such costs, without changes in attitudes toward desired number of births, could not have caused fertility decline.

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Many developing countries are passing through a stage of demographic transition where much of its population share lie in working age (15-64). With increasing share in working age and lowering dependency ratio, this age distribution opens a window of economic prosperity. However, this window of demographic dividend is transitive in nature. Strong economic, social and political climate should be in place to harness the opportunity. If this bulge of youth is not equipped with proper education, skill and employment it may lead to disaster when the wave enters ageing stage.

Much contemporary anthropology is concerned with the origin, character, and consequences of late modernity. Surprisingly absent in this literature is the importance of population size, structure, and process. In particular, the demographic transition—or historical change from a high to a low equilibrium of birth and death rates—is an important component of modernity that deserves greater anthropological engagement. This review outlines demographic transition and transition theory, then discusses two ways in which transition intersects with literatures on modernity: through individual rationality and governmentality. Confronting both the material of population and the theories about it has the potential to significantly reconfigure anthropologies of the present.

The Continuing Demographic Transition. Gavin W. Jones. Robert M. Douglas. John C. Caldwell. and Rennie D'Souza. eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. 454 pp.

In the coming decades, there will be growing demographic disparity in India and, like economic disparity, this should be a matter of serious concern for our planners and policy–makers. This demographic disparity leading to demographic imbalance may cause considerable social turbulence and may even pose a threat to political stability. Demographers must look far beyond demographic statistics and anticipate the consequences of demographic imbalance between different regions and states in India as well as between different religious communities, castes and tribes. Relevant data based on 1991 Census and National Family Health Survey (1992-93) are presented to highlight the 'North-South Demographic Divide'.

Despite ongoing declines in fertility in many countries, the population of the world is experiencing a period of rapid expansion, and its size is expected to reach 10 billion by the end of the demographic transition. Three causes of this growth are identified and quantified: 1) fertility above the replacement level of two surviving children per woman, 2) continuing declines in mortality, and 3) population momentum resulting from a young age structure. A set of simple analytic expressions is proposed for estimating these factors from standard demographic indicators. Population momentum is shown to be the main cause of future growth in most countries and regions.

The demographic transition is a universal phenomenon. All regions of the world experience a change from high levels of mortality and fertility to low levels. The onset and pace of the demographic transition vary between regions and countries because of differences in timing of events and conditions that trigger the transition. As a consequence, we observe diverging trends in population growth and ageing around the world. The paper shows that transitions in mortality, fertility and migration have several features in common. Demographic transitions are intertwined with science and technology, the economy, cultural change and social and political processes. The interaction between these processes take place at the level of the individual, not at the population level. The human desire for a long and fulfilling life is the main driver of demographic change. Science and technology provide instruments to control demographic processes but the use of these instruments is conditioned by economic and cultural change. Individuals are more likely to act if they are aware that they can influence the outcome of their action, the outcome is beneficial and they have the instruments to exercise control. The pace of a transition depends on (a) diffusion processes that govern the transmission of values, preferences, norms and practices and (b) inertia in a population due to its composition. Keywords: Demographic transition, path dependence, diffusion, agency, demographic dividends

The text is re-examining the previously established dilemma related to whether Serbia (without Kosovo and Metohija) is the country of second demographic transition, i.e.: has the transition been de-blocked, under the assumption that this is a worldwide historical process of transformation of industrialized countries. The last thesis, around which there exists a lot of controversy in the contemporary population theory, is however not dealt with in detail; to the contrary, it is used as the general theoretical framework for the exploration of the most recent tendencies in the transformation of nuptiality and fertility regime in Serbia, as well as in the western and countries in post-socialist transformation. Special attention is given to the ideational changes, more precisely to the specific features of the value profile of the Serbian population, which is one of the most important determinants of the societal framework, that acts in the back of the afore mentioned aggregate demographic indicators. Finally, the hypothesis is posed (which should be further investigated by means of in-depth research and complementary approach) that the speeding-up of the second demographic transition and intensification of the individualisation not only of the partnership but of the parenthood as well, accompanied with the rise of living standard and social support to balancing work and family, would have produced important emancipating and, concomitantly, positive socioeconomic and demographic effects.