Demographic Transition

According to PAIR Houston, up to 3000 refugees arrive in Houston each year making it the number one location for refugee settlement nationwide. Refugees from countries around the world such as Afghanistan, Syria, and Somalia come to resettle from persecution, war and violence, and political instability. In regards to their resettlement, these refugees face a variety of challenges such as adjusting to a new lifestyle, facing prejudice demands, and feeling isolation. As a demographer, Houston can support one million refugees in the Sam Houston National Forest.

Before the arrival of Europeans, native societies were hunters-gathers and identified as indigenous peoples. Native American societies had their own diverse cultures and formed into 140-160

“The theory of Demographic Transition can be divided into two parts for purposes of analysis and criticism. The first area which we will consider describes the general decline in birth and death rates in industrialized countries. The second part deals with attempts to explain why the change occurred.” (Wells, 2) Based on this evidence, the theory makes predictions of the changes in a population growth and follows a pattern of the four stages: preindustrial, transitional, industrial, and postindustrial. For example, Uganda is in the preindustrial stage, which means both birth and death rates are high. This indicates that there is a constraint to food supply, limited access to health care, and poor family planning. Next, transitional, shows a decrease in death rates but birth rates remain high. Somalia, where our refugees originated from, is in stage two due to improvements in sanitation decreasing the risk of disease and increasing life expectancy, women are having smaller families, and families are investing in health, education, and savings. Then, industrial, is when birth rates fall and death rates are low due to increase in women’s status and education, access to contraception, urbanization, and improved economic conditions such as India. Lastly, industrial is when birth and death rates are low, stabilizing the population growth; Germany is in industrial because of their well-educated citizens, strong economics, and expanded employment opportunities for women. Moreover, this connects to the sustainable refugee population because their population identifies in a certain stage that contributes to its growth and can determine solutions as to how a developing country can transition to the last stage. Nevertheless, the demographic transition theory suggests that populations will grow according to its four-stage