Demography is the study of human populations and their changes. Population change is influenced by birth rates, death rates, and migration. Demographic transition refers to the historical period when mortality and fertility rates decline from high to low levels in a country or region. Examples given include China's one-child policy to control rapid population growth and Japan's steadily declining population in recent years. Demographic transition affects global population growth by initially allowing populations to increase when death rates fall and birth rates remain high, before both rates eventually decline as well.