Births

• The total fertility rate:

  Factors determining the birth rate are, the proportion of women who are of childbearing age, and how fertile they are - that is how many children they have.
• The total fertility rate:

  The total fertility rate (TFR) is the average number of children women will have during their fertile years.
• The total fertility rate:

  The UK's TFR has risen in recent years, but it is still much lower than in the past. From an all-time low of 1.63 children per women in 2001, it rose to 1.83 by 2014. However, this is still far lower than the peak of 2.95 children per woman reached in 1964 during the 1960s baby boom.
• The total fertility rate:

  These changes reflect the fact that:

  • more women are remaining childless than in the past
  • women are postponing having children: the average age for giving birth is now 30, and fertility rates for women in their 30s and 40s are on the increase. Older women may be less fertile and have fewer fertile years remaining, and so they produce fewer children.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate:


  Sociologists have identified a number of reasons for the long-term decline in the birth rates since 1900.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate:

  These reasons involve a range of social, economic, cultural, legal, political and technological factors.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  There were major changes in the position of women during the 20th century.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  Legal equality with men, including the right to vote
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  Increased educational opportunities - girls now do better at school than boys.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  More women in paid employment, plus laws outlawing unequal pay and sex discrimination.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  Changes in attitudes to family life and women's role.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  Easier access to divorce
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  Access to abortion and reliable contraception, giving women more control of their fertility.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  Harper: the education of women is the most important reason for the long-term fall in birth and fertility rates. It has led to a change in mindsets among women, resulting in fewer children. They are more likely to use family planning, and see other possibilities in life apart from traditional role of housewife and mother.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  Harper: many are choosing to delay childbearing, or not to have children at all, in order to pursue a career. E.G. in 2012, 1 in 5 women aged 45 was childless - double the number of 25 years earlier.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Changes in women's position:

  Harper: once a pattern of low fertility lasts for more than one generation, cultural norms about family size change. Smaller families become the norm and large ones come to be seen as deviant or less acceptable.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  Infant mortality rate (IMR) measures the number of infants who die before their first birthday, per thousand babies born alive, per year.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  Harper: argues that a fall in the IMR leads to a fail in the birth rate. This is because, many infants die, parents have more children to replace those they have lost, thereby increasing the birth rate. If infants survive, parents will have fewer of them.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  In 1900, the IMR for the UK was 154. Over 15% of babies died within their first year. These are higher than those of less developed countries. E.G. in 2014, the world's highest estimated IMR was that of Afghanistan, at 117.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  During the first half of the 20th century, the UK's IMR began to fall. This is because:
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  1> Improved housing and better sanitation, e.g. flush toilets and clean drinking water, reduced infectious disease. Infants are much more susceptible to infection because of their less developed immune system.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  2> Better nutrition, including that of mothers.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  3> Better knowledge of hygiene, child health and welfare, often spread via women's magazines.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  4> Fall in the number of married women working may have improved their health and that of their babies.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  5> Improved services for mothers and children, e.g. antenatal and postnatal clinics.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  Before the mid-20th century, it is doubtful whether specifically medical factors had much effect on the IMR - the medical profession had a significant impact through its campaigns to improve public health measures.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  However, from the 1950s, medical factors began to play a greater role. E.G. mass immunisation against childhood diseases such as whooping cough, diphtheria and later measles, the use of antibiotics to fight infection and improved midwifery and obstetric techniques, all contributed to a continuing fall in the IMR.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  By the 1950s the UK's IMR had fallen to 30 and by 2012 it stood at 4 - barely one fortieth of its 1900 figure.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Decline in the infant mortality rate:

  While many sociologists claim that the falling IMR led to a fall in birth rates, Brass and Kabir: argue that the trend to smaller families began not in rural areas, where the IMR first began to fall, but in urban areas, where the IMR remained higher for longer.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Children are now a economic liability:


  Until the late 19th century, children were economic assets to their parents because they could be sent out to work from an early age to earn an income. However, since the late 19th century children have gradually become an economic liability.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Children are now a economic liability:

  Laws: banning child labour, introducing compulsory schooling and raising the school leaving age mean that children remain economically dependent on their parents for longer and longer.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Children are now a economic liability:

  Changing norms: about what children have a right to expect from their parents in material terms mean that the cost of bringing up children has risen.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Children are now a economic liability:


  As a result of these financial pressures, parents now feel less able or willing then in the past to have a large family.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Children centredness:


  Increasing child centredness both of the family and of society as a whole means that childhood is now socially constructed as a uniquely important period in the individual's life. In terms of family size, this has encouraged a shift from 'quantity' to 'quality' - parents now have fewer children and lavish more attention and resources on these few.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Future trends in birth rates:

  Fertility rates and family sizes have fallen over the last century. However, there has been a slight increase in births since 2001.
• Reasons for the decline in the birth rate - Future trends in birth rates:

  One reasons for this is the increase in immigration because, mothers from outside UK have a higher fertility rates than those born in the UK. Babies born to mothers from outside the UK accounted for 25% of all births in 2011. However, the projection for the period up to 2041 expects the annual number of births to be fairly constant, at around 800,000 per year.
• Effects of changes in fertility - The family:

  Smaller families mean that women are more likely to be free to go out to work, thus creating the dual earner couple typical of many professional families. However, family size is only one factor here. E.G. better off couples may be able to have larger families and still afford childcare that allows them to both work full-time.
• Effects of changes in fertility - The dependency ratio:


  The dependency ratio is the relationship between the size of the working or productive part of the population and the size of the non-working or dependent part of the population.
• Effects of changes in fertility - The dependency ratio:

  The earnings, savings and taxes of the working population must support the dependent population. Children make up a large part of the dependent population, so a fall in the number of children reduces the 'burden of dependency' on the working population.
• Effects of changes in fertility - The dependency ratio:

  However, in the long term, fewer babies being born will mean fewer young adults and a smaller working population and so the burden of dependency may begin to increase again.