The Neolithic demographic transition was a period of rapid population growth following the adoption of agriculture by prehistoric societies (the Neolithic Revolution).
It was a demographic transition caused by an abrupt increase in birth rates due to the increased food supply and decreased mobility of farmers compared to foragers.
Eventually the mortality rate in farming societies also increased to the point where the population stabilised again, possibly because settling down in one place, in close proximity to animals, encouraged the spread of zoonotic and waterborne diseases.
[2] Evidence for the Neolithic demographic transition include an increase in juvenile skeletons in prehistoric cemeteries and a general increase in the density of archaeological remains following the start of the Neolithic.
[6] The Neolithic demographic transition was the inverse of the contemporary demographic transition, a similar episode of population growth that occurred after the Industrial Revolution, which began because of decreased mortality and ended due to decreased fertility.