demography

• Demographic trends


  Changes in the size of the family
• The UK family has dramatically reduced in size since the turn of the 20th century and particularly so in the latter half of that century
• Fertility rate


  Number of children per woman
• The fertility rate was at its peak of 2.93 children per woman on average in 1964, and has since declined to 1.7 children per woman in 2018
• The average family size has fallen to nearly 2.4 adults and children per household in the UK in 2019, down from nearly 6 per household in 1900
• Reasons for the fall in family size

  • Increased cost of child rearing
  • Greater geographical mobility of the family
  • Changes in gender roles
  • Increased use and availability of contraception
• Cost of raising a child from birth to 18

  Estimated between £150,000 and £185,000 depending on family size and structure
• Children are now seen more as an economic burden than in previous generations
• Child centeredness


  Development of specific consumer markets for children's products
• Pester power


  Children's influence on parents' purchasing decisions
• The increase in school leaving age from 11 to 18 has limited the earning capacity of children and made them more dependent on economic support from parents
• Some children are economically dependent on their parents into younger adulthood due to changes in higher education funding
• The loss of earnings, particularly for women, through caring responsibilities has led to less children being born to minimize the impact on their careers
• Privatised nuclear family


  More mobile and able to pursue employment in their chosen fields
• There has been a small but significant increase in the number of multi-family households such as beanpole families for financial and practical support
• The increased involvement of women in employment has coincided with a decline in the fertility rate as women pursue careers
• Males are increasingly becoming more involved in the process of child rearing, and there is a movement towards equality in domestic labor
• Legislation to legalize abortion and the availability of the contraceptive pill led to a decline in the fertility rate as unwanted pregnancies reduced
• Social changes in the late 1970s and early 1980s led to an increase in the use of contraception by males, further reducing the number of children being born
• Impacts of smaller families

  • Aging population
  • Society becoming more child-centered
  • Strain on state resources
• The reduction in the number of children in society has led to an aging population, which could impact the age at which people can retire
• Less children has led to society becoming more inclusive of children, with a shift towards making society more child-centered