In the demographic transition model, which stage is characterized by high birth rates and high death rates?

• A. Preindustrial
• B. Industrial
• C. Postindustrial
• D. Transitional

Answer: (A)

In the preindustrial stage, both birth rates and death rates are high. People have many children partly because needed labor in agrarian economies and because infant mortality is high, while life expectancy is shorter due to limited medicine, poor sanitation, and variable food supplies. These opposing pressures—many births but many deaths—tend to keep the overall population size relatively stable or growing only slowly. This is why this stage is characterized by high birth rates alongside high death rates.

As conditions improve, death rates fall while birth rates remain high in the transitional stage, leading to rapid population growth. In the industrial stage, birth rates begin to decline as economic development and urbanization reduce family size, while death rates stay low. In the postindustrial stage, both birth and death rates are low, and population growth levels off or declines.