If the death rate falls after health improvement and the birth rate later falls because of education, how can the direction of growth change?

Correct answer: It may be rapid first and slower later

The direct answer is A: growth may be rapid first and slower later. In the first stage, health improvement can reduce deaths while births remain relatively high. Because more people survive, the difference between births and deaths can become large, producing rapid natural increase. Later, education and related social changes may reduce the birth rate. As births move closer to deaths, the rate of natural increase slows; it may eventually become very low or negative, depending on the actual rates and migration. Option B is too absolute because growth is not automatically zero. Option C is also too absolute; the early phase can be positive. Option D is wrong because birth rate remains one of the main components of natural increase. Memory cue: in demographic transition, death rates often fall before birth rates, creating an early growth surge.