The metastable birth trajectory

Abstract

The metastable model generalizes the stable population model by allowing net maternity to change exponentially over age and time. As a result, the metastable model generates an exponentially quadratic birth trajectory, which is characterized by a constant proportion of births by age of mother. The metastable model is well suited to analyzing steady fertility declines and transitions between two regimes of fixed vital rates.

Keywords

• dynamic population models
• metastable population
• quadratic exponential trajectory
• stable population