Key demographic trends (1)

• Demographic measures


  • Birth rate
  • Fertility rate
  • Infant mortality rate
  • Mortality rate
• The birth rate has fallen significantly since the beginning of the 20th century
• There were peaks after the two World Wars, known as "the baby booms"
• The birth rate fell dramatically from the late 19th century with families having fewer children and more women choosing to delay childbearing, or not to have children at all
• There was an increase in the fertility rate after 2001, but still well below its historical numbers
• The fertility rate has decreased (very slowly) for the last few years, reaching 1.81 in 2016
• The fertility rate has been lower, both in the 1970s and in the late 1990s
• The population increased, as birth rates remained high
• Later, birth rates began to fall (people stopped having "insurance children")
• The mortality/death rate has fallen dramatically over the years (since 1900)
• This is usually put down to improved public health
• McKeown (1972) argued that the main factor was improved nutrition, and therefore it was social and economic improvements that brought down the death rate, rather than health innovations
• Tranter (1996) disputed this, arguing that about three quarters of the fall in the death rate between 1850 and 1970 could be caused by the elimination of lots of preventable diseases