Births

Factors for country’s population

• Size

• Age

• Birth

• Death

• Immigration

• Emigration

Natural change

There are more births than deaths

Net migration

More immigration than emigration

Birth rate

The number of live births per thousand per year

Total fertility rate

Average number of children women will have during their fertile years

Total fertility rate information

• more women are remaining childless

• Women are postponing having children: the average age for giving birth is now 30. Older women ma be less fertile and have fewer fertile years remaining so they have less children

Reasons for change in birth rate

1. Changes in women’s position

2. Decline in infant mortality rate

3. Children are now becoming an economic liability

4. Child centredness

Changes in position of women

• increase education opportunities

• More women working

• Changes in attitudes to family life and women’s role

• Easier access to divorce and access abortion and contraception

• E.g. better educated women have more options, they can choose a career rather than marriage and family

Fall in the infant mortality rate

• in 1900 it was 154 by 2016 it was 4

• Improved hosing

• Sanitation

• Nutrition of family and children

• Knowledge of hygiene and child health

• Heath services for mothers and children

• Medical factors - mass immunisation, antibiotics, improved midwifery and obstetrics

Children as an economic liability

• Until 19th century children were an economic asset because they worked from a young age

Now they are a liability:

• laws banning child labour

• Introduction of compulsory schooling

• Changing norms about children’s right to a high standard of living raises their cost

• Parents are unable to afford to have a large family

Child centredness

• childhood is socially constructed as a uniquely important period

• Let to a shift from quantity to quality

• Parents have less children and lavish more attention and resources on the few

Effects of a falling birth rate

• Lower birth rates and fertility rates have several effects on the family and society

e.g. having fewer children means women are freer to go out to work, creating the dual earner couple

• Dependency ration is the relationship between size of the working population and size of non working population

• The working populations earnings and taxes support the dependent population

• Children are a large part of the dependent population, so fewer children reduces the burden of dependency on working population

• Public services:

  • fewer schools

  • child health services may be needed

  • less needs to be spent on maternity and paternity leave

  these are political decisions - e.g. reduce the number of schools to have smaller class sizes instead