Question

All of the following factors help stabilize populations except?

1) Growing prosperity, urbanization, and social reforms that accompany development reduce the need and desire for large families in most countries.
2) Technology is available to bring advances to the developing world.
3) Less-developed countries have historic patterns to follow.
4) Modern communications provide information about the benefits of and methods for social change.
5) Increased fertility rates have risen nearly everywhere in the world over the past half-century.

Answer 1

Factors that help stabilize populations include urbanization, technological advancements, and access to family planning, but increased fertility rates would not be a stabilizing factor. Urbanization and economic growth lead to demographic transitions which eventually decrease birth rates. However, due to the large existing population base, population growth will continue despite declining fertility rates.

Step-by-step explanation:

All of the following factors help stabilize populations except increased fertility rates which have risen nearly everywhere in the world over the past half-century. Stable populations are generally achieved through various means:

• Growing prosperity, urbanization, and social reforms that accompany development reduce the need and desire for large families in most countries.
• Technology advancement and its spread to developing countries allow for social and economic growth.
• Less-developed countries have the benefit of historical patterns to follow, potentially avoiding mistakes made by countries that developed earlier.
• Modern communications facilitate the spread of information regarding the benefits of social change and family planning.

Increasing fertility rates would not be a stabilizing factor; in fact, such an increase could contribute to further population growth. It is established that factors like improved economic conditions, better education, especially for women, and wider access to healthcare and family planning measures contribute to population stabilization by reducing birth rates and moving through the demographic transition.

Among these stabilizing factors, ubranization generally correlates with a decrease in family size and shifts from primarily agricultural livelihoods to those found in urban settings. This shift, along with improvements in public health, often leads to demographic transitions where birth rates eventually decrease after an initial decline in death rates.

However, there is a paradox in population studies; while fertility rates are declining, due to a large existing population base, overall population growth will continue for some time. Only through the cumulative effect of many social, technological, and economic changes can stabilization truly be achieved.