Births Flashcards
Birth rate
Define
The measure of births per thousand of the population
Total fertility rate
Define
The average number of children a woman will have during her fretile years (15-44)
Reasons for drop in Feritlity rates
4 reasons
Changing position of women
Decline in infant mortality rate
children are now an economic liabiltiy
child centerdness
Changes in the position of women
-legal equality with men
-increased educational opportunity
-more women in paid employment
-easier acess to divorce
-Acess to abortion and better contreception means women have more control over child birth
Sarah Harper 2012
Decline in infant mortality rate
Number of infants who dies before their first birthday per 1000 people
As IMR has fallen families will have less children as they dont need to replace them.
in 1900’s IMR in the UK was 154 now the highest in the world is Afghanistan with 117. Now in the UK its only 30 (2012)
Reasons include better housing, better nutrition, better knowledge of hygine
Sarah Harper 2012
Children are an economic liabiltiy
Children used to be sent out to work but due to law changes like compulsury education and the change in norms about the material terms children should expect from their parents means that children are becoming a burden on their parents.
Child centerdness
Childhood is now socially constructed so now family has switchd from quantity to quality so parents are having less chlidren but giving them a better experiene.
Effects of Changes in fertility
The family
The dependency ratio
Public services and policies
The Family
Smaller family sizes can cause the woman to be able to go to work creating a dual earner household
The dependency ratio
the size of the working to non working part of the population.
As children are seen as dependent the drop in children could lead to a decrease in the burden of depenency. However in the long run if there are less people in the work force due too less children being born the burden will increase again.
Public services and policies
If less children are being born this could mean that less schools or child health services will be needed, this will also effect the cost of paternity leave and housing that will need to be built.
