Demography

• What is demography?


  The study of human populations and how this changes over time.
• What would be analysed within demography?

  Through fertility (births), migration, aging, and mortality (deaths).
• What is the birth rate?


  the number of live births per thousand of population per year.
• What is infant mortality rate?

  the number of children dying at birth or in their first year of life per 1000 births per year
• What is the fertility rate?


  this refers to the number of live births per 1000 women aged 15-44 over one year.
• What is the death rate?


  The number of deaths per 1000 people per year
• What are some reasons for the decrease in death rate?


  ~ Medical improvements

  
  

  ~ Improved diet and nutrition

  
  

  ~ Improved public health

  
  

  ~ Decline in dangerous jobs

  
  

  ~ Changes in lifestyle - higher standards of living
• What does the decrease in death rate effect?

  It increases life expectancy and an ageing population.
• What is international migration?

  this refers to the movement of people from one country to another.
• What is immigration?


  Refers to people entering into a country.
• What is emigration?


  Refers to people leaving a country.
• How has the birth rate fluctuated in 1901/1971 and 2004 (%)

  Only 716 000 children were born in Britain in 2004. This is 34% fewer births than in 1901 and 21% fewer than 1971.
• When did the birth rates increase?

  1) After the first world war there was a 'Baby boom' with births peaking at 1.1 million in 1920

  
  

  2) This happened again after the second world war ^^^^^^^^

  
  

  3) There was also an increase in births in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This was the result of the larger cohort of women born in the 1960s entering their childbearing years.
• What has happened since 2001?

  The birth rate has steadily risen - the 2006 birth rate was the highest for 26 years.
• Is the birth rate in 2000s higher than it was in 1900s?

  No, the 2000s birth rate is lower than it was in 1901s.
• Why have there been changes in the birth and fertility rate?

  ~ Changes in the position of women e.g. education and employment.

  
  

  ~ Decline in the infant mortality rate meaning women don't have loads of children in order for one of them to survive.

  
  

  ~ Increasing financial cost of children

  
  

  ~ Increase in child - centeredness

  
  

  ~ Increase in effectiveness? availability of contraception.
• What does the change in birth and fertility rates effect?

  Family - smaller family size, more childless families, more freedom for women.

  
  

  Society - Increase in dependency ratio, ageing population, less demand for children's services.
• Why was there a major decline in infant mortality rate?

  This is because of:

  1) improvements in sanitation

  
  

  2) water supplies and nutrition
• What does the decline in infant mortality rate mean for parents?

  They no longer need to have lots of children to ensure that a few survived.
• Why do parents choose to limit the size of the families?

  As standards of living increased and childhood came to be seen as a special period in our lives, having children became very expensive.
• What restricts the increase of the birth rate?

  From the 1960s onwards, the Contraceptive Pill became widely available.
• Have fertility rates declined over the past 100 years?

  Yes they have declined. In 1900 there were 115 live births per 1000 women aged 15-44, compared with only 57 in 1999 and 54.5 in 2001.
• What does the Total Fertility Rate mean (TFR)


  Refers to the number of children that are born to an average woman during her childbearing life
• What are three reasons for why fertility rates have decreased?

  1) Women are delaying having families and are having children at an older age than they were 30 years ago.

  
  

  2) Delay is possible due to contraceptive methods and reliable birth control pills

  
  

  3) Women chose to have fewer children and some chose not to have children at all, because of the change in gender roles, where women now have different attitudes towards family life, having children, education and careers.
• Through the changes of birth and fertility rate, how has it impacted family size and organisation?

  1) People have fewer aunts, uncles, cousins etc, meaning there has been a decline in family kinship networks, meaning there are less people for family to fall back o in times of need.

  
  

  2) There are more nuclear families with one child.

  
  

  3) There has been a decline in the number of full-time mothers and a rise in the number of children looked after by other relatives. E.g. grandparents, childminders and nurseries.

  
  

  4) Women are choosing not to have children. In 2000, one in five women aged 40 had not had children compared with one in ten in 1980 and this figure is expected to rise to one in four by 2018.
• What has happened to the birth and death rates since the population of Britain has increased?

  As the population has increased, life expectancy has also increased and death rates have fallen. For example, Between 1971 and 2004, the death rate for all males fell by 21%, while the death rate for all females fell by 9%.
• What has increased life expectancy?

  1) improved public health (sanitation and hygiene)

  
  

  2) improved medical technology and practice (drugs such as vaccines and antibiotics)

  
  

  3) rising living standards (which have improved nutritional intake and housing quality)

  
  

  4) better care and welfare facilities (which have been mainly provided by the State).
• What does increased life expectancy effect?

  It increases an ageing population

  
  

  Increase in dependency ratio.
• Does social class and ethnicity effect life expectancy?

  Yes,

  Those in middle class jobs tend to live longer than those in manual jobs and the unemployed.

  
  

  Some ethnic minorities have lower life expectancy than White people.
• What has led to an ageing British population?

  The decline in the death rate, especially the infant mortality rate, and the increase in life expectancy.
• Has there been an increase in the number of one person households over state pension age?

  Yes,

  1) In 2005, 14% of all households were of this type (one person)

  2) Women aged 65 and over were more likely to live alone than men because of their longer life expectancy and because they tend to marry men older than themselves. For example, In 2005, 59% of women aged 75 and over were living alone.
• What do these sociologists: Finch and Mason, O'Brien and Jones et al, suggest about the elderly?

  That the elderly have regular contact with extended kin. Many elderly relatives use new technology such as e-mail to keep in contact with their extended kin.
• Why are there some signs that an ageing population will lead to a growth in children caring for the elderly parents?

  They don't have the economic resources to go into private residential care homes, so they take them into the family home or build granny flats.
• What are 3 negative effects of caring for the elderly?

  1) it may increase the domestic burden on women who take most responsibility for caring in families.

  
  

  2) it may result in financial hardship for the family because one partner may have to give up work in order to care full-time for elderly relatives.

  
  

  3) there may be emotional strain and over-crowding if an elderly and physically dependent relative moves in, which causes conflict between couples and between parents and children.
• What does Brannen (2003) suggest with the increase of four generation families/ multigenerational families and beanpole families - long and thin in shape?

  They have fewer ties within a generation because of high divorce rates, falling fertility and smaller family size.

  
  

  They have more ties between the generations because of increased life expectancy.

  
  

  People in this generation, particularly grandmothers, are increasingly looking after both their grandchildren and their own elderly parents, e.g. 20% of people in their fifties and sixties currently care for their parent(s), while 10% care for both an elderly person and a grandchild.

  
  

  Studies suggest that there may be more qualitative and enriching contact between grandparents and their grandchildren. This may result in more positive experiences of socialisation as grandparents pass on life lessons.
• What happened with migration through the 1900-1940s, 1950s-60s, and the 1980s onwards?

  In the period 1900-40 there was a net loss in the British population as people emigrated to Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

  
  

  The 1950s-60s saw a net gain as thousands of immigrants arrived from India, Pakistan and the Caribbean to meet a shortage of labour caused by the Second World War.

  
  

  The 1980s onwards saw a net gain in population as White immigrants from Eastern Europe, Australia and USA entered the country.
• What are 4 examples on effects of migration on family life?

  1) Over 50% of African-Caribbean families are single-parent families.

  
  

  2) Most Asian families are nuclear, although 33% of Asian families are vertically extended, (i.e. they include grandparents) or horizontally extended (they include brothers and their wives, e.g. Sikhs).

  
  

  3) Marriage is mainly arranged and negotiated with children in Asian families, although forced marriage is largely a thing of the past.

  
  

  4) Asian families tend to feel a strong sense of duty to help extended kin, especially those still living in their country of origin.
• What is net migration?


  The difference in numbers immigrating and emigrating.
• What are some examples of push factors?

  < Conflict

  
  

  < Famine

  
  

  < Poor weather

  
  

  < Poor healthcare.
• What are some examples of pull factors?

  < Peace

  
  

  < Good weather

  
  

  < Free healthcare

  
  

  < Education opportunities