Arrange the following as per the stages of demographic transition model:

(A) Population growth is slow due to high birth and high death rate.
(B) Fertility remains high, but mortality declines at a faster pace.
(C) Fertility declines at a faster pace, but mortality declines gradually.
(D) Population growth is slow due to low birth and low death rate.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

(A), (B), (C), (D)

The correct answer is Option (1) - (A), (B), (C), (D)

(A) Population growth is slow due to high birth and high death rate. In the initial stage,both birth and death rates are high, resulting in slow population growth.
 (B) Fertility remains high, but mortality declines at a faster pace: Improvements in healthcare and living standards lead to a decline in death rate, while birth rate remains high.
(C) Fertility declines at a faster pace, but mortality declines gradually. Social and economic factors lead to a decline in birth rate, but the death rate continues to fall, though at a slower pace.
(D) Population growth is slow due to low birth and low death rate. With further development, both birth rate and death rate stabilize at low levels, leading to slow or stagnant population growth.

"Demographic transition theory can be used to describe and predict the future population of any area. The theory tells us that population of any region changes from high births and high deaths to low births and low deaths as society progresses from rural agrarian and illiterate to urban industrial and literate society. These changes occur in stages which are collectively known as the demographic cycle.

The first stage has high fertility and high mortality because people reproduce more to compensate for the deaths due to epidemics and variable food supply. The population growth is slow and most of the people are engaged in agriculture where large families are an asset. Life expectancy is low, people are mostly illiterate and have low levels of technology. Two hundred years ago all the countries of the world were in this stage.

Fertility remains high in the beginning of second stage but it declines with time. This is accompanied by reduced mortality rate. Improvements in sanitation and health conditions lead to decline in mortality. Because of this gap the net addition to population is high.

In the last stage, both fertility and mortality decline considerably. The population is either stable or grows slowly. The population becomes urbanised, literate and has high technical know- how and deliberately controls the family size."