ABSTRACT
Figure 6.1 provides some explanation for the causes and timing of this unprecedented growth. A steady and progressive decline in mortality from the mid-eighteenth century to the midtwentieth century was accompanied by relatively high levels of fertility until the late nineteenth century. From the 1880s onwards there was a sharp downturn in the birth rate, which, over the relatively short space of sixty years, declined to a level close to that of the death rate, resulting in some flattening-out of the population growth curve. In the past, interpretations of this process of demographic transition placed emphasis on the role played by mortality, particularly in the earlier stages of rapid growth. It was suggested that improvements in general health related to higher standards of living, better nutrition, advances in medical knowledge and control over infectious diseases, wore away at the death rate, while fertility remained at premodern levels.
