In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the demographic transition in europe was best characterized by a shift in the composition of national populations toward greater ethnic balance a a net population decline resulting from an excess of deaths over births b migration between european countries c large-scale population movements following periods of war or widespread civil unrest d urbanization and falling birth rates

In the period described, Europe saw D. urbanization and falling birth rates.

Between the 19th and early 20th century, Europe went through the Second Industrial Revolution which led to:

As more people moved to urban areas, towns and cities grew at an astounding rate which meant a rise in urbanization.

At the same time, due to higher literacy rates, people gave birth to less children which led to falling birth rates.

We can therefore conclude that Europe saw higher urbanization and lower birth rates in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

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A net population decline resulting from an "excess of deaths over births".

Option: A

Explanation:

Demographic transition is a shift from higher to lower level of fertility and mortality.Rapid development in industrialization and urbanization in century resulted into enormous population growth. But decline in early century covered many reasons like consequences of two calamitous wars, where Europe suffered large population declination due to battle death and civilian causalities in World War I and II. Hence the acceleration of population growth in 19th century but downfall in 20th is also considered as balance.