Demographic Change

Keywords

Nuclear family- consist of 2-gen (parents & children) and the parents are married

Extended family- group of kin-extended post nuclear family

Blended/reconstituted family- where a couple bring children from previous relationships and come together to form a new family

Lone parent family- One parent & their children

The matrifocal family- One where mothers are the head of the family & fathers play a less important role in the home & bringing up the children

Cohabitating couples- A couple who lives together without being married

Empty nest family- A family where the children have grown up & move out

Empty shell marriage- A marriage in name only. The couples live under the same roof but live separate lives

Same sex family- Couple are the same sex & have registered their partnership legally

Beanpole family- Family with strong inter-geographical links (ties between partners & grandparents) & fewer children

Single Person household- Someone living by themselves

Commune- People who live as a collective rather than individual family unit

Arranged marriage- A type of marital unit where the bride & grooms are selected by others

Forced marriage- One of more of the parties are married without consent/against their will

Polygamous relationships- 1 or more people involved

Birth rate- The number of live births per thousand of the population per year

Total fertility rate- Is the average number of children women will have during their fertile years

Demographic Change

Demography- the size & make up of a population

  • Population is obtained through a census or official statistics from birth records, deaths, visa, passports & citizenship applications

UK Population: 1801: 10.5 million 1901: 37 million 1971: 56 million 2016: 65 million

  • Natural changes (birth & death rates) and immigration/emigration (net migration)

Factors which affect the size of a country’s population

  • Size

  • Age structure- is the average age of the population rising or falling?

  • Births

  • Deaths

  • Immigration

  • Emigration

Births - Trends

  • In 1900 the birth rate was 28.7% but by 2012 it had fallen to 12.2%

  • There has been a long-term decline in the number of births since 1900 though there was a small increase in 2001

  • There were 3 baby booms after the World Wars during the ‘60s. WHY? Soldiers returning home from the war were weary of adventure and wished to settle down into family life with their sweethearts.

  • The BR fell sharply during the 1970s due to contraception, rose a little during the 80s and fell back down in the 90s

  • The total fertility rate has risen in recent years but is still much lower than it was in the past. In 2001 the rate was 1.63 children per woman but rose to 1.83 in 2014. Far lower than the peak of 2.95 in 1964 (baby boom)

Fertility Rate - Trends

  • The total fertility rate (the number of children each woman has) declined from 3.5 in 1900 to 1.7 in 1997.

  • It rose slightly to 1.82 in 2014. However, this is still lower than the peak of 2.95 children per woman reached in 1964 during the 1960s baby boom.

  • The average age for giving birth is now 30, and fertility rates for women in their 30s and 40s are on the increase.

  • Older women may be less fertile and have fewer fertile years remaining and so they produce fewer children.

Reasons for the decline in the birth rate- changes in women’s positions, decline in the infant mortality rate, children are now an economic liability & child centredness

KEY THEORISTS: SARAH HARPER, SUE SHARPE

  1. Changes in women’s position- Liberal feminism

    EVIDENCE- Legal equality with men, including the right to vote.

    Increased educational opportunities – girls now do better than boys

    More women in paid employment, plus laws on equal pay and sex discrimination.

    Changes in attitudes to family life and women’s roles

    Easier access to divorce – Divorce Reform Act (1969)

    Access to abortion and reliable contraception giving women more control over their fertility – The Abortion Act (1967)

    Sarah Harper (2012): says that the education of women is the most important reason for the long-term fall in birth & fertility rates.

    It has led to a change in mindset amongst women, resulting in fewer children. Many women are choosing to delay child rearing/not have children at all. Once a pattern of low fertility lasts for more than one generation, cultural norms about family size change. Smaller families become the norm and larger ones can be seen as deviant.

    EVIDENCE- In 2012 1 in 5 aged 45 were childless, double the number 25 years earlier

  2. Decline in the infant mortality rate

    Sue Sharpe

    Sarah Harper (2012): argues that a fall in the IMR leads to a fall in the BR. If many infants die, parents have more children to replace the ones that they’ve lost, thereby increasing the BR. By contrast, if infants survive parents will have fewer of them.

    Improved housing and better sanitation

    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 e.g. antenatal and postnatal clinics.

    From the 1950s medical factors also began to play a role e.g. mass immunisation

    against childhood diseases, the use of antibiotics and improved midwifery and obstetric techniques.

    EVIDENCE- By 1950 the UK’S IMR had fallen to 30 & by 2012 it stood at 4

  3. Children are now an economic liability

    Children in the past were an economic asset to the family but:

    Laws have banned child labour (The Children and Young Persons Act 1933) and introduced compulsory schooling (the Education Act of 1996), resulting in children remaining economically dependent on their parents for longer & longer

    Changing norms about what children have a right to expect from their parents in material terms means that the cost of bringing up children has risen

    Until the late 19th century, children were economic assets to their parents because they could be sent out to work.

    However, since then children have gradually become an economic liability – Why?

    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 – children have a right to expect certain things from their parents in material terms meaning that the cost of bringing up a child has risen.

    Parenthood involves greater pressures on couples, a lifelong commitment, a loss of freedom and independence and scarifies like cuts in money to spend on consumer goods and the loss of time for leisure and pleasure.

    How can you link this argument to Beck’s concept of ‘risk society’?

  4. Child centredness

    Is increasing. Childhood is now socially constructed as a uniquely important period in the individual’s life. In terms of family size, this has encouraged a shift from ‘quantity’ to ‘quality’.

Future trends predictions in BR: the annual number of births for the period up to 2041 to stay fairly constant at 800,000 per year

What effects do changes in fertility have on


The family-

Smaller families mean that women are more likely to be free to go out of work creating the dual-earner couple typical of many professional families

The dependency ratio-

The dependency ratio: is the relationship between the size of the working or productive part of the population and the size of the non-working or dependent part of the population

Vanishing children

A falling fertility rate would mean that there would be fewer children. Childhood may become a lonelier experience as fewer would have siblings and more childless adults may mean fewer voices speaking up in support of children’s interests.

Public services & policies-

An ageing population: an increasing median age in a population because of declining fertility rates and rising life expectancy.

One effect is that the average age of the population is rising so there are more old people relative to young.

Deaths

Death rate: the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year

Trends of death rate in the UK

In 1900, the DR stood at 19

In 2012, it more than halved to 8.9

The DR had already begun falling from about 1870 and continued to do so until 1930

Rose slightly during 1930s and 40s (period of economic depression, WW2)

Declined slightly since 1950s

Reasons for decline in death rate- improved nutrition, medical improvements, smoking & diet, public health measures and other social changes

  1. Improved nutrition

    Thomas McKeown- argues that improved nutrition accounted for up to half the reduction in death rates, and was particularly important in reducing the number of deaths from tuberculosis

  2. Medical improvements

  3. Smoking & diet

  4. Public health measures

  5. Other social changes