Births

• why are people having less children

  • power
  • choice
  • career
  • access to contraception
  • child is special
  • women having children later
  • decline in child mortality
• total fertility rate

  • average number of births per women
  • the factors determining the birth rate are:
  • the proportion of women who are of childbearing age
  • how fertile they are
  • the total fertility rate is risen in recent years but it is still much lower than it was in the past
  • these changes reflect many things such as:
  • more women remaining childless than in the past
  • women are postponing having children
• changes in women position

  • legal equality with men-like right to vote
  • more educational opportunities-girls do better than boys now
  • decline in infant mortality rate
  • easier access to divorce
  • access to abortions and reliable contraception
  • more women in paid employment
  • changes in attitudes to family life and womens role within the family
• Harper 2012

  • Women's education is biggest factor in falling rates because educated women are using family planning and see other possibilities beyond housewife/mother.
  • led to a change of mindset among women resulting in fewer children
  • This means they delay childbearing not only to have children but to focus on a career
  • notes that once a pattern of low fertility lasts for more than one generation, cultural norms about family size change
• decline in infant mortality rate

  • Harper argues that a fall of IMR leads to a fall in birth rate
  • this is because if many infants die then parents have more children to replace those they lost thereby increasing birth rate
• reasons for the decline in IMR

  • improved housing and better sanitation such as flush toilets, reduced infectious diseases
  • better nutrition including hose of mothers
  • better knowledge of hygiene, child health and welfare
  • a fall in the number of married women working may have improved their health and that of their babies
  • improved services for mothers and children e.g. ante-natal clinics
  • mass immunisations against childhood diseases
• children are now an economic liability

  • until the late 19th century children were economic assets who were sent to work
  • since the late 19th century children are now seen as an economic liability
  • laws banning child labour, introducing compulsory education and raising school leaving age means that children have to remain economically dependent on their parents for longer
  • changing norms about what children have the right to expect from their parents means the cost of raising children has increased
• child centredness

  • Childhood has now been constructed as uniquely important-families have less children so they can focus on the quality of their child's lives
• Future trends in birth rates

  • Family sizes have fallen due to the decline in birth rates.
  • However, this has changed in recent years due to the increase in immigration-mothers from outside of the UK account for 25% of all births in 2011
• effects of changes in fertility

  • Smaller families means women have more freedom to go to work which means an increase in dual-earner households.
  • However, middle-class couples can still have bigger families as they have time for work, and money to afford childcare allowing them to work full-time
  • having fewer babies leads to the average age of the population to rise (ageing population) as there is more old people relative to young people
• the dependency ratio

  • The relationship between the size of the working population and the size of the non-working (dependent) population
  • as families are having less children the dependency ratio (working people/non-working people) is affected, there will be less young adults.
  • This makes a smaller working population, increasing the burden of dependency
• Public services and policies

  • Low birth rate also affects public services/politics - there'll be less need for schools and child health services, and the cost of maternity/paternity leave would be affected.
  • However, the government can decide to make smaller class sizes instead of reducing the number of schools