Why is the Demographic Transition Model useful?

• Its dynamic - it shows changes through time
• It describes what has happen in the UK
•  USA and many other western countries have also been through the same stages
• Some countries are going through it at the moment - Newly Industrialised Countries, like South Korea
• Explains what has happened
• Explains why it happened in that particular sequence

Why doesn’t the pattern of Demographic Transition Model work for all countries?

• Its Eurocentric
• Based on western Europe
• Based on events from the past
• Its had to have been adapted since it was used – Stage 5 was added
• Not relevant to countries that aren’t industrialized
• Some LEDCs have imported medicine/sanitation techniques from MEDCs
• Does not give a timeline for how long it will take – 260 years for UK but South Korea seems to be rushing through in decades
• It doesn’t take migration rates into account
• Many factors affect death rate such as; famine, natural disasters, war.
• It doesn’t show Governments/Non-Government intervention
• Countries census data could be inaccurate
• DTM assumes all countries will go through stages in a certain order. Many countries in Africa seem to be in Stage 5 due to the HIV and Aids epidemic.
• It cannot predict what will happen in the future E.g. Natural disasters