Demography

• Births

  Total fertility rates are declining

  1964- 2.93

  2019- 1.65

  People are having children later in life

  1973- 26.4

  2019- 30.7
• Reasons for declining birth rates

  Changes in women's position

  • Legal equality with men, including the right to vote. 

  • Increased educational opportunities

  • More women in paid employment, plus laws outlawing unequal pay and sex discrimination. 

  • Changes in attitudes to family life and women's role.

  • Easier access to divorce. 

  • Access to abortion and reliable contraception, giving women more control over their fertility
• Reasons for declining birth rate 


  Changes in women's position

  Harper

  Education of women is the most important reason

  Women's mindset has changed leading to fewer children

  They now see other possibilities other than the traditional role of a housewife

  Many will delay having children or not have any to pursue career
• Reasons for declining birth rate

  Decline in infant mortality rate

  When infants died parents had more to replace them, now as infants survive parents have fewer children

  Infant mortality rate fell due to

  • Improved housing, better sanitation, reduced infectious disease

  • Better nutrition, including that 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, such as antenatal and postnatal clinics.
• Reasons for declining birth rate

  Children are now an economic liability 

  Until 19th C children were economic assets going to work and earning a wage

  The are new an 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

  Changing norms about what children have a right to expect from their parents in material terms means cost of a child has risen
• Effects of changing fertility

  Impact on the family

  Family sizes are likely to be small- dual earner

  Wealthier families will be able to have more kids due to childcare access

  Dependency ratio

  Less children means there is less dependency on families

  Fewer young adults to pay taxes to support the old

  Vanishing childhood- lonely due to fewer siblings

  Public services

  Less schools and child care facilities

  Smaller housing built

  Elderly more dependent on NHS
• Deaths 


  The number of deaths per year has remained fairly steady at 500,000

  But total population has risen so there is a declining death rate
• Reasons why people live longer

  Tranter

  Fall in infectious diseases and replaced by disease of wealth- heart disease and cancers

  Mckeown

  Better nutrition leads to stronger immune system so more chance of survival against disease
• Reasons why people live longer

  Medical improvements

  After 1950s improved medical knowledge and techniques helped reduce deaths

  Setting up of NHS in 1948

  Smoking and diet

  Harper- due to reduction in number of people smoking

  In the 21st C the new lifestyle epidemic is obesity

  Public health measures

  In 20th C government enforced laws to improve public health  improvements in housing, purer drinking water, the pasteurisation of milk, and improved sewage disposal methods. 
• Reasons why people live longer

  other social changes

   • The decline of dangerous manual occupations such as mining 

  -Smaller families reduced the rate of transmission of infection

  -Greater public knowledge of the causes of illness 

  • Lifestyle changes, especially the reduction in the number of men who smoke. 

  • Higher incomes, allowing for a healthier lifestyle.
• The ageing population

  The decline in birth rate coupled with the declining death rate creates and ageing population

  This means that the average age is increasing over time

  Average age in the UK is 40

  18% of the population is 65+, more than under 16

  The population pyramid- Hirsch- traditional pyramids is now disappearing and being replaced with more equal sized blocks
• Effects of ageing population

  Public services

  Changes to policies and provision of housing, transport or other services.

  Older people use a larger proportion of services such as health and social care than other age groups

  Beware of over-generalising, since many people remain in relatively good health well into old age. 
• Effects of ageing population

  One-person households

  Number of pensioners living alone now accounts for 12.5% of all households

  Most of these are female as they live longer than men and are usually younger than their husbands

  Feminisation of later life
• Effect of ageing population

  The dependency ratio

  Non-working olds are economically dependent who need to be provided for by those of working age e.g., through taxes

  As the number of retired people rises, this increases the dependency ratio

  Wrong to assume that 'old' necessarily equals 'economically dependent'. 

  Age that people draw their pension is rising

  2020- 66 2026- 67
• Consequences of ageing population

  Growth of ageism and negative stereotypes

  Discrimination in terms of employment

  Unequal treatment in healthcare

  Negative speech used to describe elderly

  Seeing ageing as a problem (cost of pensions)

  Ageism is a result of a structured dependency

  The old are excluded from paid work which leaves them economically dependent

  They become stigmatised dependent and powerless
• Consequences of ageing population

  Marxists

  The elderly are no use in a capitalist system

  The state is unwilling to support or care for them

  Care pressures are passed on to family

  The elderly have become reserve army for labour

  Used as free source of childcare for families
• Consequences of Ageing population

  Postmodernists

  Old people's roles and identities aren't fixed

  They are free to choose own identities and roles

  Boundaries between different life stages has been blurred so have greater choice of lifestyle

  Hunt

  We are defined by consumption

  The old have become a market for products such as anti-ageing

  This helped to break down ageist stereotypes
• Consequences of the ageing population

  Pilcher

  Class gender and ethnicity remain important

  Class- m/c can afford youthful lifestyle

  Gender- women have lower pension savings due to work breaks

  Subject to sexist and ageist stereotypes

  Postmodernists under estimate the importance of these inequalities
• The impact of migration

  Contributed to UK population growth

  The fertility rate for non-UK mothers is 1.98

  Migration alters the age structure

  Directly- immigrants tend to be younger

  Indirectly- as migrants are younger they tend to be more fertile so contribute to increase in birth rate
• The impact of migration 


  Migration impacts the dependency ratio

  Most are young and over working age to lower the dependency ratio

  Most return to their country of origin for retirement

  Most have more children so increase the dependency ratio

  The later the generation the more likely they are to replicate the Uk fertility rate
• The impact of migration 


  Most see immigration as a top priority

  Public support strict immigration policy

  -Go home van

  Direct asylum seekers sent to safe countries

  Boarder force can turn away migrants whilst at sea

  4 year imprisonment for illegal immigrants

  citizenship can be removed without notice