Demographic Changes : Birth Rate

Question 1

Trends in fertility rates

Answer 1

1900: fertility rate was 115 live births per 1000 women aged 15-44 compared with only 63.6 in 2009

Question 2

Birth rate trends

Answer 2

1900- 28.7 births per 1000

2014- 12.2 per 1000

Question 3

Decline in infant mortality rate

Answer 3

Families choose to have fewer children because they have developed a stronger bond with their children who are now more likely to survive into adulthood due to improvements in medical science and public health
1901- 154 per 1000
2012 - 4.62 per 1000

Question 4

Family diversity

Answer 4

Alternative lifestyle choices are now socially acceptable so some couples may choose to remain childless

Question 5

Changing expectations of women

Answer 5

Due to an increase in educational achievement, employment opportunity’s and the availability of contraception, women may choose to prioritise having a career over a family

Question 6

Implications of decline in birth rate

Answer 6

• Family sizes have declined
• Westwood and Bhachu observe that the decline in birth rate does not apply to Asian families
• HAKIM: voluntary childlessness is a relatively new lifestyle choice which could only have been brought about by the contraception revolution
• dual career family : decline in full time mothering and a rise in the number of dual career families

Question 7

Evaluation: Helen Wilkinson 1984

Answer 7

There has been ground breaking shift in female expectations since the 1960s where women no longer automatically consider motherhood to be an obligation