In the demographic transition, which stage is characterized by falling birth rates?

• A. Stage 2
• B. Stage 4
• C. Stage 3: falling birth rates.
• D. Stage 1

Answer: (C)

Birth rates start to fall as societies mature and mortality has already declined. Once death rates have dropped and people live longer, families shift their priorities: children survive more reliably, and the economic and social costs of raising many children rise. Urbanization, increased education (especially for women), greater participation of women in the workforce, and access to contraception all contribute to deciding to have fewer children. With these factors in play, fertility declines while death rates remain low, moving the population toward a low-growth, stable regime. This is different from the earlier stage, where birth rates remain high even though deaths have fallen, and from the later stage, where both birth and death rates are low. Thus, the stage where birth rates fall is the stage in which fertility begins its downward trend.