Natural Resources, Standards of Living, and the Demographic Transition

In the very long run both the development of population size and the rise of income per capita have been characterised by stagnation or, at most, by very modest growth with cyclical ups and downs. It was not until two centuries ago that the age of industrialisation changed this trend and initiated an unprecedented increase in the standard of living (income per capita) as well as the population size. Industrialisation occurred first in Great Britain, and later in other western European countries, North America, Australia, and Japan - and eventually, most recently, in many Asian and Latin American countries. The coincidence of rapid economic and demographic growth has been a common feature in the initial stage of the modern process of development in these various countries.