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The Demographic Transition Theory

Decent Essays

Unlike society a few decades before, the life expectancy has increased and now America is seeing an exponential growth to the elderly population. There are many factors that could be the cause of this. Looking at the demographic transition theory in conjunction with the Malthusian theory brought valuable insight for me. The demographic theory says there are four stages to population growth that are predictable. Those who are in their late 80’s and above were capable of seeing all four of these stages in America. As they aged and the stages for population advanced so did technology. Malthusian theory claims that there are three factors that prevents the human population exceed its carrying capacity, which are food, disease, and war. Those who lived through the four stages of America were lucky enough to see technology advance to prevent those factors in being lethal to our population. It became possible for adults to live on to see their grandchildren and eventually their great grandchildren. However, having life for so long isn’t always the best. There’s a quote from the movie The Dark Knight which I believe applies to this situation, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”. This quote is evident in the film “Living Old”, because eventually you reach an age where your body and mind regresses, which hurts your love ones. For example, in the film Mary Ann DiBerardino daughter of Chester and Rosemary Haak has suffered seeing her parents

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