TOPIC 4

• Total fertility rate - the total number of children a women will have in her fertile years
• TFR is lower than the past:

  • low in 2001 - 1.6 per woman
  • 2014 - 1.8 per woman
  • 1960s 2.95
• Changes in TFR:

  • women remaining childless
  • postponing having children - 30s leading to lower fertility rate
• Reasons for decline in birth rate:

  1. changes in women's position:

  • increased opportunity - right to vote
  • increased education opportunities - Harper - educated women's mindset changes
  • in paid employment
  • changes in women's role in family
  • easier access to divorce
  • access to abortion and contraception

  Harper also mentions once a pattern of low fertility rates for one generation, cultural norms about the family size changes
• Reasons for decline in birth rate:

  1. Decline in infant mortality rate:

  • Harper - means less infants die so don't have more to replace lost ones

  Uk IMR fell due to:

  • improved housing - flush toilets
  • better nutrition
  • better knowledge of hygiene
  • improved services for mothers and children
• Reasons for decline in birth rate:

  1. children are now an economic liability:

  19th century children were economic assets - sent to work

  • Laws banning child labour, introduction of compulsory schooling = economically dependent on parents for longer
  • Changing norms - children have the right to expect from their parents = cost of bringing up children has risen
• Reasons for decline in birth rate:

  1. Child centredness - childhood is socially constructed as a uniquely important period - parents have shifted quantity to quality = more attention/ resources for these few
• Future trends in birth rates:

  Increase in birth rates since 2001

  • one reason is due to immigration, mothers from outside UK account for 25% of all births in 2011
  • 2041 expects average number of births to be 800,00 per year
• Effects of changes in fertility:

  the family dependency ratio and public services policy
• The dependency ratio - is the relationship between the size of working and non-working dependent part of the population

  • the savings and taxes of the working population pay for the non-working population - fall in childbirths reduces the burden of society on the working population
• The dependency ratio -

  due to fall in birth rate now the burden of society may increase again
• Vanishing children - childhood may become lonelier, fewer siblings, more childless adults = fewer voices speaking up in support of children's interests