Demography

Birth rate = the number of live births per 1,000 people per year in a population.

• there has been a decline in birth rates

• 📉 Reasons for the Decline in Birth Rate: 1. 👩‍🎓 Changes in the Position of Women

  • More education and career opportunities

  • Access to abortion and contraception

  • Later marriage and childbearing

  • Women choosing to be childfree or have fewer children

  📖 Harper: Education of women is the most important reason for the fall in birth rates.

  2. 💊 Decline in Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

  • Parents have fewer children because more survive.

  • Improved healthcare, nutrition, and sanitation.

  • Medical advancements (e.g. vaccinations)

  📖 Tranter: Fall in IMR explains much of the fall in birth rate.

  3. 💸 Children as an Economic Liability

  • In the past, children worked – now they’re dependent for longer.

  • Laws banning child labour, compulsory education, rising cost of living.

  • Parents can’t “afford” large families anymore.

  4. 🧠 Child-Centredness

  • Shift towards having fewer children but giving them more attention.

  • Families now often aim for “quality over quantity.”

  5. 🧬 Changes in Attitudes & Norms

  • Shift in views: large families are no longer the norm.

  • More acceptance of different family choices.

  📈 Fluctuations / Temporary Increases in Birth Rate:

  • Baby booms (e.g. post-WWII in 1947)

  • Short-term increases during times of economic stability

  • Migration: immigrant families often have higher fertility rates

effects of declining birth rate

• smaller families - affect family structure and relationships

• less demand for schools

• ageing population - fewer young people to support the elderly - affects the dependency ratio - smaller working population - affects public services - more pressure on NHS, social services, pensions

• Fertility rates will decline due to an ageing population - younger will decrease and older will increase

• more dual-earner families - fewer children - more women in work

death rate - number of 1000 people dying each year

trend - overall decline in death rate since the 1990s

reasons for decline in death rates:

• McKeown - improved nutrition - better nutrition improved resistance to infection and overall health, reducing mortality

• Notley and Screever - medical improvements - advances like antibiotics, vaccines, improved maternity services, NHS , doctors and treatments better access.

• Wilkinson and Pickett-smoking and diet - awareness of health risks had led to reductions in smoking and improved dietary habits, lowering death rates.

• Foucault - government actions like sanitation systems, clean water, and sewage disposal cut infection rates

• Engels - movement away from risky industrial and manual labour reduced work-related injuries and fatalities.

• Parsons - smaller families - fewer children mean better maternal health and fewer child deaths due to better resource distribution

• Giddens - lifestyle choices - more exercise , reduced alcohol consumption and better health and education , have supported longer lives.

ageing population

• Effects of an ageing population:

• public services - older people typically require more healthcare and social care, which puts pressure on the NHS and adult social services.

• One-person pensioner households - a growing number of elderly people living alone (women) due to longer life expectancy and widowhood, increasing housing demand

• The dependency ratio - an ageing population increases the number of non-working individuals dependency on the working age population - raising the economic burden

• ageism, modernity, and postmodernity - age often seen as negative - postmodernists argue that age identities are becoming more flexible

• postmodern society - Hunt - old age is no longer a fixed stage of life - people can choose lifestyles and identities regardless of age

• Pilcher - inequality among the old-class and gender affect the experience of old age - poorer pensions and older women often face greater inequality

Migration

• Migration is the movement of people into (immigration) or out of (emigration) a country.

• immigration increased after ww2 1950s - 1970s

• push factors - war , poverty and lack of jobs , political instability and natural disasters

• pull factors - higher wages , safety , healthcare , better education and oppurtunities, family reunification and lifestyle

impact of migration on uk demoghraphy

• population growth - rise in birth rates, net migration, impact of growth

• birth rate changes - Many immigrants are younger and have higher fertility rates.

• This can raise the birth rate, offsetting the UK’s ageing population.

• age structure - most migrants are young adults aged 20-30 - lowers the average age of the population, helps reduce the dependency ratio (more working age people)

globalisation and migration

• The feminisation of migration - in the past, most migrants were men, and now almost half of the migrants are women

• Ehrenhich and Hochsild - globalisation of the gender division of labour - an increasing number of poor women are working as care workers, domestic violence, and sex workers in Western countries such as the USA and UK.

• reasons for these trends:

• expansion of service sector jobs - customer service, healthcare, finance, and hospitality

• western women now focus on their careers and are less likely to perform domestic tasks - doctors, teachers, lawyers

• western men are unwilling to perform domestic tasks - cleaning , childcare and hospitality

• state has failed to provide adequate childcare - insufficient funding , rising costs , limited support

migrant identities

• hybrid identities - a mixture of 2 or more different cultural influences, migrants may combine elements of their original culture with their host country.

• transnational identities - identities that do not fit neatly into one national identity but are formed through ties to more than one country

The politicisation of migration

• assimilation - process by which immigrants adopt the cultural norms of the host country and abandon their original culture - criticisms - ignores the values of cultural diversity can lead to discrimination

• Multiculturalism = shallow diversity - tolerance of minor cultural differences such as food, festivals, or dresses, while deeper cultural values are not accepted - criticisms - superficial acceptance, fails to challenge inequalities, or fully integrate minor groups.

• Multiculturalism - deep diversity - acceptance of more significant cultural differences, including values, beliefs, and ways of life - criticisms - may create social divisions, some argue it encourages segregation or weakens social cohesion