Demography Flashcards
what is demography
This refers to the size of the population and how that directly impacts the family.
TFR
1.58 2021
reasons for declining birth rate
- Changes in womens position
- Decline in Infant Mortality Rate
- Children are now an economic liability
changes in womens position
Major changes in the position of women occurred during the 20th century, these includes legal equality, increased educational opportunities, more women in paid employment, changes in attitudes, easier access to divorce, and access to abortion and contraception which gives women more control over fertility, According to Harper, the education of women is the most important reason for the long term decline in birth and fertility rates. It has led to a change in mindset among women, educated women are more likely to use family planning, they see other possibilities in life apart from the traditional expressive role, and many choose to delay childbearing or not have children in order to pursue a career. All of which has led to fewer children eg in 2015, one in 5 women aged 45 were childless
decline in IMR
IMR refers to the number of infants who die before their first birthday, per 1000 births a year. Harper argues that a fall in IMR leads to a fall in the birth rate because if many infants die, parents have more children to replace those they have lost, which increases birth-rate, if infants survive parents will have fewer of them. UK IMR 2022 - 3.4 deaths per 1000 live births. which is a huge fall from 30 in the 1950s ad this is due to several reasons.
reasons for fall in IMR
- Improved housing and better sanitation such as clean drinking water reduced infections, which has made infants less susceptible to infections due to their weak immune system
- Better nutrition
children are now an economic liability
Until the late 19th century, children were economic assets to their parents because they could be sent out to work from an early age to earn income. However, since the late 19th century due to laws and changing norms, children have gradually become an economic liability. As a result of these financial pressures, parents now feel less able or willing than in the past to have a large family.
effects of changes in fertility
- Impact on the family
- The dependency ratio
- Vanishing Childhood
- Public services
impact on the family
Smaller families are more likely to be dual-earner as women will be more free to go to work. However, family size is only more factor, wealthier families would be able to have more kids due to childcare access.
dependency ratio
DR is the relationship between the size of the working population and the size of the non-working dependent part of the population. Less children means there will be less dependency on families however the dependency ratio may begin to increase again as fewer babies being born mean fewer adults and a smaller working population to pay taxes
vanishing childhood
Falling fertility rates means fewer children, childhood may become lonely due to fewer siblings
public services
a lower birth rate has consequences for public services. For example, less schools and childcare facilities will be needed. Smaller housing will be built, this will cause the elderly to depend more on public services like the NHS as there will be more older people
death rate
9/1000 recently - fallen
reasons for the decline in the death rate
- Improved Nutrition
- Medical Improvements
- Smoking and Diet
- Public health measures
improved nutrition
Mckeown argues that improved nutrition accounted for up to half the reduction in death rates and was particularly important in reducing the number of death as better nutrition increased resistance to infection and increased survival chances of those who did become infected. However, Mckeown doesnt explain why women who received a smaller share of the family food lived longer, also death from infections decreased like measles actually rose at the time of improving nutrition
medical improvements
From 1950s onwards, improved medical knowledge, techniques and organisation help to reduce death rates. Advances include the introduction of antibiotics, immunisation, blood transfusion, improved maternity services and the setting up of the NHS in 1948. More recent improved medications like bypass surgery have reduced the death rate by heart disease by a third.
smoking and diet
According to Harper, the reduction in smoking has made the death rate fall greatly. However, obesity has now replaced smoking as the new lifestyle epidemic. 1/4th of all UK adults were obese 2012, yet although Obesity has increased, deaths from it has been kept low due to drug therapy
public health measures
More effective governments have emerged that pass and enforce laws that have led to a range of improvements in public health and the quality of the environment. These include, improvements in housing, better drinking water, food regulation laws and improved waste disposal. The Clean Airs Act reduced air pollution such as smog which was responsible for 4000 deaths in 1952
other social changes that have played a part in reducing the death rate
Decline in dangerous manual work like mining, smaller families which reduces the rate of transmission of infections, greater public knowledge of causes of illnesss, lifestyle changes, high income allowing for a healthier lifestyle
class, gender and regional differences in death rate
Despite overall reduction in the death rate, there are still important differences. For example, women generally live longer than men. Similarly, those living in the North and Scotland have a lower life expectancy than those in the South. WC men in unskilled labour are nearly 3 times as likely to die before they are 65, compared to MC men in professional jobs
the ageing population
THe declining birthrate coupled with the declining deathrate creates an ageing population. This means that the average age of the population is increasing overtime. The average age of people in the UK is now 40, 18% of the population are aged 65 or over and we have more people aged 65 and over than under 16
effects of an ageing population
- Public Services
- One person pensioner households
- Dependency ratio
public services - AG
Older people consume a larger proportion of services such as health and social care than other age groups. In addition to increased expenditure on healthcare, an ageing population may also mean changes to policies and the provision of housing transport or other services
one-person pensioner households
One person pensioner households now account for about 15% or one in seven households, with most of these being female-headed as women live longer than men, Among those over 75, there are twice as many women as men - ‘the feminisation of later life’
dependency ratio - AG
Non-working old people are an economically dependent group who need to be provided for by those of working age, through taxation to pay for pensioners and healthcare. As the number of retired people arises, the dependency ratio increases. There were 3.5 people of working age for every pensioner - 2022. However, old doesnt always equal economically dependent. In 2020, the age at which pensioners could access their pension rose from 65 to 66 and will rise further to 68 following recent laws
consequences of the ageing population
One consequence of the ageing population is the growth of ageism which is the negative stereotyping and unequal treatment of people on the basis of their age. Ageism shows itself in many ways such as discrimination in employment, unequal treatment in healthcare, negative speech and terminology used to describe the elderly. Old people are seen as a problem, for example, in terms of the cost of pensions. Sociologists argue that ageism is the result of structured dependency. The old are largely excluded from paid work, which leaves them economically dependent on their families or the state. Since our identities in modern societies are largely determined by our role in production, those excluded from production become stigmatised, dependent and powerless.
Marxists - consequences of the ageing population
According to Phillipson, the elderly are of no use to capitalism because they are no longer productive. As a result, the state is unwilling to support or care for them which then places care pressure on the family usually the woman. The elderly have become a reserve army of labour used as a free source of childcare for families
postmodernism and consequences of the ageing population
PMs argue that in todays PM society, the fixed orderly stages of the life course have become broken down. Old people’s identities are not fixed. The elderly are free to choose their own identities and roles as the boundaries between different life stages have become blurred, and we, therefore, have greater choice over our lifestyle at whatever age. Hunt argues that in a postmodern world, we are defined by consumption, not employment, the old has become a market for a vast range of products aimed at body maintenance and anti-ageing. Hunt argues that this has helped break down the ageist stereotypes that existed in modern societies
eval of PM
Pilcher argues that while the orderly stage of life may have been broken down. Inequalities such as class, and gender remain important. Class - the MC have better occupational pensions and can afford a youthful lifestyle while poorer WC old people cannot and they have a shorter life expectancy as a result
Gender - Women have lower pensions due to lower earnings and career breaks. They are also subject to sexist as well as ageist stereotypes for example being described as old hags.
PM understate these inequalities which are related to the structure of wider society and they play a major part in shaping the exp of old age and restricting their freedom to choose an identity through consumption
what else apart from natural changes like births and deaths has affected population
Migration
key terms associated with migration
Migration
Immigration
Emigration
Net Migration
immigration
During the 1950s, black immigrants from the carribean began arriving followed by South Asian and East Africans in the 60s and 70s
emigration
The UK was almost always a net exporter of people, more emigrated than more came to settle. Emigrants have gone to the USA, canada, Aus, NZ mainly for economic reasons
impact of migration of UK population structure
- Population Size
- Age structure
- Dependency Ratio
population size - migration
Population size is currently growing as a result of migration. In 2019 - 671,000 immigrants, there is also a natural increase as births to non-uk mothers are higher and account for about 28% of all births
age structure - migration
Immigration lowers the average age of the population directly and indirectly. Directly - immigrants are generally younger. In 2019, 19% of UK-Born population were aged 65 and older, with just 11% of immigrants, 48% of UK born were aged 2-24, migrants 70%. Indirectly - being younger, migrants are more fertile and may produce more babies
dependency ratio - migration
Immigrants are more likely to be of working age and this helps to lower the dependency ratio
Immigrants are younger and tend to have more children - increase DR those children join the workforce - decreases DR
The longer the group settles in a country, the closer their fertility rate comes to the national average, reducing their overall impact on the DR
TFR for non-uk mothers
1.98 - 2020
differentiation - migration
There are many types of migrants, permanent settlers, temporary workers, spouses refugees, asylum seekers. It is suggested that globalisation has increased the diversity of migration. For example, students are now a major group of migrants. Before the 1990s immigrants came from a narrow range of british colonies now in 2020 35% of international students are from china. Vertovec argues that globalisation has led to super-diversity - migrants come from a wider range of countries and ethnic, religous, cultural background. There are also differences among migrants cohen identified 3 types
types of migrants
Citizens with full citizenship rights such as voting rights
Denizens - privileged people welcomed by the state such as billionaire oligarchs or highly paid employees of trans-national companies
Helots - states regarded them a disposable units of labour power, a reserve army of labour. They are found in unskilled poorly paid work and include illegally trafficked workers and those legally tied to a particular employer such as domestic servants
the feminisation of migration
Majority of migrants tend to be women which reinforces patriarchal stereotypes and has been called the globalisation of gender division of labour. Ehrenreich and Hochschild argue that care work, domestic work and sex work in the UK are increasingly done by women from poorer countries this is due to several trends, the expansion of service occupations which traditionally employ women in western countries has led to an increasing demand for female labour. Western women have joined the labour force and are unwilling to perform domestic labour, western men are also unwilling and the state refuses to provide childcare - 40% of UK nurses are female migrants
migrant identities
According to Eriksen, globalisation has created a more diverse migration pattern with back and forth movements of people through networks rather than permanent settlement in another country. As a result, migrants no longer identify with one nationality but they develop transnational identities where instead they identify with a range of places they may have lived in. For example, Eade found that second generation Bangladeshi muslims in the UK created hierarchical identities they were muslim first then bengali then british
