Two universal pathways in demographic transition

Demographic transition, marked by declines in fertility and mortality, is a widespread phenomenon in modernization processes. By analyzing global data, it is illustrated that each country's change in crude birth rate λ and life expectancy at birth e₀ follows one of two universal pathways conserving either λ e₀ or λ exp(e₀ /18). This signifies two fundamentally different phases, governed by distinct mechanisms. Phase I (and II), prevalent until the mid-20th century (more recent in occurrence), is characterized by a high (low) child mortality and steady growth of population (GDP per capita). Then, a simple model is proposed by considering the trade-off between reproduction and education. It demonstrates a transition between phases in which either the total population or total productivity is maximized, each conserving one of the above quantities. This work offers a novel theoretical lens to demography by extracting universal macroscopic laws from the data and elucidating background mechanisms.