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Demographic trap
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Demographic trap is used when a country's population is constantly growing extremely rapidly due to high birth rates and low death rates. This usually happens when a developing country moves into a demographic transition to become developed. During the 3rd stage (called the late transition stage), quality of health has improved enough that death rates fall into the "accepted" range, which is usually well below 10 per 1000 people. However, birth rates remain high, and the country becomes "trapped" in a self-perpectuating cycle. The country's economic growth from the transition stage ends up being used to support the needs of the exploding population instead of promoting economic and social development. As a result, the country cannot proceed to the final stage, post-transition and is stuck in the 3rd stage. What may happen instead, as predicted indirectly by Thomas Malthus, is the country will experience a Malthusian collapse, in which famine and disease become widespread and create massive die-offs because the population has exceeded the carrying capacity of the area.