Demography

Question 1

What is demography and family?…

Answer 1

> Fertility Rates

> Birth Rates

> Death Rates

> Life Expectancy and Ageing

> Globalisation and Migration

> Family Size

Question 2

Birth rate…

Answer 2

The birth rate is the number of live births per 1000 of the population per year.

Question 3

Total fertility rate (TFR)…

Answer 3

The factors determining the birth rate are, firstly, the proportion of women who are of childbearing age (usually taken to be aged 15-44) and, secondly, how fertile they are that is, how many children they have.

The UK’s TFR has risen since 2001, but it is still much lower than in the past.

Question 4

Women remaining childless…

Answer 4

More women are remaining childless than in the past.

Women are postponing having children: the average age for giving birth is now 29.6, 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.

Question 5

5 key reasons for decline in birth rate…

Answer 5

1) Changes in the position of women

2) Decline in the infant mortality rate

3) Children have become an economic
liability

4) Child Centredness

5) Technology

Question 6

Changes in the position of women…

Answer 6

Legal equality with men, including the right to vote. Increased educational opportunities — girls now do better at school than boys.

More women in paid employment, plus laws outlawing unequal pay and sex discrimination.

Changes in attitudes to family life and women role.

Easier access to divorce.

Access to abortion and reliable contraception, giving women more control over their fertility.

As a result of these changes, women now see other possibilities in life apart from the traditional role of housewife and mother. Many are choosing to delay childbearing, or not to have children at all, in order to pursue a career. For example, in 2006, one in five women aged 45 was childless—double the number of 20 years earlier.

Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck both regard this as the most important factor explaining the decline in the birth rate.

Question 7

Infant mortality rate…

Answer 7

The infant mortality rate (IMR) measures the number of infants who die before their first birthday, per thousand babies born alive, per year. Many sociologists argue that a fall in the IMR leads to a fall in the birth rate.
During the first half of the 20th century, the UK’s IMR began to fall. This was due to several reasons:

> Improved housing and better sanitation.

> 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, such as antenatal and postnatal clinics.

But, while many sociologists claim that the falling IMR led to a fall in birth rates, others reject this view. For example, Brass and Kabir (1978) argue that the trend to smaller families began not in rural areas, where the IMR first began to fall, but in urban areas, where the 1MB remained higher for longer.

Question 8

Children have become an economic liability…

Answer 8

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 an income.

Laws banning child labour, introducing compulsory schooling and raising the school leaving age mean that children remain economically dependent on their parents for longer and longer.

Question 9

Child-centredness…

Answer 9

The increasing child-centredness both of the family and of society as a whole has encouraged a shift from ‘quantity’ to ‘quality’ parents now have fewer children and lavish more attention and resources on them.

Question 10

Technology…

Answer 10

The development of contraceptive technologies in the 1960s – Namely the contraceptive pill – gave rise to what Anthony Giddens calls ‘plastic sexuality’ - Sex becomes detached from reproduction. Also, importantly, The Pill gave women control of their reproduction and they could choose when to have children.

There is no direct correlation between the invention of The Pill and the decline in the fertility rate – in fact the Baby Boom of the 1960s came immediately after The Pill’s invention, and most women clearly still choose to have babies.

Tech has led to people having babies later in life are IVF and the freezing of eggs, together these technologies mean women can delay having children into their 40s, extending the ‘natural’ period of fertility.

But, IVF to be available for all women, it requires the state to fund it, otherwise this would be prohibitively expensive for couples with low incomes, so for this technological factor to have an impact, it needs to combine with political rights.

Question 11

3 key affects…

Answer 11

1) The family

2) The dependency ratio

3) Public services and policies

Question 12

The family…

Answer 12

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

However, family size is only one factor here. For example, better off couples may be able to have larger families and still afford childcare that allows them both to work full-time.

Question 13

The dependency ratio…

Answer 13

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.

The earnings, savings and taxes of the working population must support the dependent population.

Children make up a large part of the dependent population, so a fall in the number of children reduces the ‘burden of dependency’ on the working population.

However, in the longer term, fewer babies being born will mean fewer young adults and a smaller working population and so the burden of dependency may begin to increase again.

Question 14

Public services and policies…

Answer 14

A lower birth rate means fewer schools and maternity and child health services may be needed.

It also has implications for the cost of maternity and paternity leave, or the types of housing that need to be built.

However, we should remember that many of these are political decisions. For example, instead of reducing the number of schools, the government may decide to have smaller class sizes instead.

Question 15

Postmodernisation…

Answer 15

All of the above changes are part of the broader process of posmodernisation – The decline of traditional norms and values such as those associated with religions mean that contraception is no longer viewed in a stigmatised way and declining birth rates also reflect individualisation.

A criticism of Postmodernism is that many people simply don’t choose to have children. Many people are forced into living an uncertain, unpredictable life where having children may not be a possibility or simply not be rational or affordable.

Question 16

Why the rise in birth rates since 2010?…

Answer 16

Increasing immigration – immigrant mothers have more children (accounts for approx. 20% of the increase).

Reduction in child poverty – New Labour increased welfare payments to poorer families – easier to have children.

Advances in birth technologies – increase in IVF – more women in their 40s having babies.

Question 17

Facts…

Answer 17

There were 7.7 million families with dependent children in the UK in 2012, 1 in 7 of which had three or more dependent children.

Married couples had a higher average number of dependent children in their family than other family types, at 1.8 children per family compared with 1.7 on average.

The UK has a higher percentage of households with three or more children than three-quarters of European Union countries.

Question 18

Compulsory education…

Answer 18

Children were banned from work and education became compulsory in 1880, this means they can no longer bring in money, but instead use much more. This means it makes economic sense to have a smaller family.

Question 19

Decline in infant mortality…

Answer 19

Fewer people die in their childhood than ever before, this means that less families are compensating by having more children.

Question 20

Geographically mobile labour force…

Answer 20

The modern labour force needs to be very mobile. This is an incentive for smaller families because it makes it easier to just pack up and move elsewhere.

Question 21

Changing values…

Answer 21

Changing values – Parenthood is a lifelong, stressful commitment, many couples are now deciding that they do not want childhood, whereas before this would have been a bad thing, it is now accepted in society as a norm.

Question 22

Death rate…

Answer 22

The death rate is the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year.

In 1900, the death rate stood at 19, whereas by 2007 it had almost halved, to 10.

Question 23

Reasons for decline in death rate…

Answer 23

Reasons for the decline in the death rate
There are several reasons why the death rate declined during the 20th century.

Improved nutrition

Medical improvements

Public health measures and environmental improvements

Other social changes

Question 24

Nutrition…

Answer 24

Thomas McKeown (1972) 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 TB.

Better nutrition increased resistance to infection and increased the survival chances of those who did become infected.

However, others have challenged McKeown’s explanation. For example, it does not explain why females, who receive a smaller share of the family food supply, lived longer than males, nor why deaths from some infectious diseases, such as measles and infant diarrhoea, actually rose at a time of improving nutrition.

Question 25

Improved medicine…

Answer 25

After the 1950s, improved medical knowledge, techniques and organisation did help to reduce death rates.

More recently, improved medication, bypass surgery and other developments have reduced deaths from heart disease by one-third.

Consider the covid vaccine.

Question 26

Public health…

Answer 26

In the 20th century, more effective central and local government with the necessary power to pass and enforce laws led to a range of improvements in public health and the quality of the environment.

These included improvements in housing (producing drier, better ventilated, less overcrowded accommodation), purer drinking water and laws to combat the adulteration of food and drink.

Question 27

Other factors contributing to the decline in death rate…

Answer 27

The decline of more dangerous manual occupations such as mining

Smaller families reduced the rate of transmission of infection

Greater public knowledge of the causes of illness

Higher incomes, allowing for a healthier lifestyle

Question 28

Life expectancy…

Answer 28

Life expectancy refers to how long on average a person born in a given year can expect to live. Life expectancy has greatly increased since 1900:

For babies born in 1900 it was 50 years for M, 57 for F

For babies born in 2005 it was 77 for M, 81 for F

Falling infant mortality: low life expectancy in 1900 was largely due to the IMR pulling down the average life expectancy of the population as a whole. As the IMR fell life expectancy rose.

Question 29

Rising life expectancy…

Answer 29

The average age of the UK population is rising. In 1971, it was 34.1 years. By 2007, it stood at 39.6. By 2031, it is projected to reach 42.6. There are fewer young people and more old people in the population. The number of people aged 65 or over is projected to overtake the number of under-16s for the first time ever in 2014.

Question 30

The effects of an ageing population…

Answer 30

Public services

One-person pensioner households

The dependency ratio

Question 31

Public services…

Answer 31

Older people consume a larger proportion of services such as health and social care than other age groups. This is particularly true of the old old’ (usually defined as 75 or over) as against the ‘young old (65-74). However, we should beware of overgeneralising, since many people remain in relatively good health well into old age. In addition to increased expenditure on health care, an ageing population may also mean changes to policies and provision of housing, transport or other services.

Question 32

Households…

Answer 32

The number of pensioners living alone has increased and one-person pensioner households now account for about 14% of all households. Most of these are female, both because women generally live longer than men, and because they are usually younger than their husbands.

Question 33

Dependency ratio…

Answer 33

Like the non-working young, the non-working old are an economically dependent group who need to be provided for by those of working age, for example through taxation to pay for pensions and health care. As the number of retired people rises, this increases the dependency ratio and the burden on the working population.

However, it would be wrong to assume that ‘old’ necessarily equals ‘economically dependent’.

For example, the age at which people retire can vary — about one in ten men in their 50’s is no longer working, while recent changes mean that women will soon have to wait until they are 65 to access the state pension (previously women’s pensions began at 60, men’s at 65).

Others carry on working into their 70s. Also, while an increase in the number of old people raises the dependency ratio, in an ageing population this is offset by a declining number of dependent children.

Question 34

The ‘problem’…

Answer 34

Age statuses are socially constructed. This also applies to old age. Much discussion about old age and ageing is negative and has constructed it as ‘problem’. For example:

The Griffiths Report (1988) on the care of the elderly saw society as facing the problem of meeting the escalating costs of health and social care for the growing numbers of old people.

Recently, there have been concerns about the ‘pensions time bomb’, with fears about how society will meet the cost of providing pensions for the elderly.

Question 35

Ageism…

Answer 35

More broadly, in modern societies, ‘ageism’ — the negative stereotyping of people on the basis of their age — often portrays the old as vulnerable, incompetent or irrational, and as a burden to society. This contrasts with the view of the elderly found in traditional societies.

Peter Townsend (1981), one reason for negative attitudes to the elderly in our society is that old age has been socially constructed as a period of dependency by creating a statutory retirement age at which most people are expected or required to stop working and are forced to rely on inadequate benefits.

Question 36

Policy implications…

Answer 36

According to Hirsch the main problem of an ageing population will be how to finance a longer period of old age. This can either be done by paying more from our savings and taxes while we are working, or by continuing to work for longer, or a combination of both.

Hirsch therefore argues that we need to reverse the current trend towards earlier retirement. One way of doing this is by redistributing educational resources towards older people so that they can retrain and improve their skills and so continue earning.

Similarly, there may need to be changes in housing policy to encourage older people (who are more likely to be living in larger houses than they need) to ‘trade down’ into smaller accommodation and retirement homes. This would release wealth to improve their standard of living and free up housing resources for younger people.

Question 37

Definitions…

Answer 37

Migration refers to the movement of people from place to place. It can be internal, within a society, or international.

Immigration refers to movement into an area or society.

Emigration refers to movement out.

Net migration is the difference between the numbers immigrating and the numbers emigrating, and is expressed as a net increase or net decrease due to migration.

For most of the 20th century, the growth of the UK population was the result of natural increase (more births than deaths), rather than the numbers of people immigrating and emigrating.

Question 38

Patterns and trends…

Answer 38

From 1900 until the Second World War (1939-45), the largest immigrant group to the UK were the Irish, mainly for economic reasons, followed by Eastern and Central European Jews, who were often refugees fleeing persecution, and people of British descent from Canada and the USA. Very few immigrants were non-white.

By contrast, during the 1950s, black immigrants from the Caribbean began to arrive in the UK, followed during the 1960s and 1 970s by South Asian immigrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and by East African Asians from Kenya and Uganda.

One consequence of this immigration was that it produced a more ethnically diverse society. By 2001, minority ethnic groups accounted for 7.9% of the total population. One result of this has been a greater diversity of family patterns in Britain today.

However, as noted earlier, throughout this period, more people left the UK than entered. Nor did non-white immigrants make up the majority of settlers. During the 1950s, the Irish were the largest single group (with over a third of a million) and almost as many again arriving from continental Europe.

Question 39

Emigration…

Answer 39

From as early as the mid-16th century until the 1980s, the UK has almost always been a net exporter of people: more have emigrated to live elsewhere than have come to settle in the UK.

Since 1900, the great majority of emigrants have gone to the USA and to the Old Commonwealth countries (Canada, Australia and New Zealand) and South Africa.

The main reasons for emigration have been economic— both in terms of ‘push’ factors such as economic recession and unemployment at home, and even more so in terms of ‘pull’ factors such as higher wages or better opportunities abroad.

In the earlier part of the century, there were often labour shortages in the destination countries, while after 1945, the relatively poor performance of the British economy compared with that of other industrial countries acted as an incentive to emigrate.

These economic reasons for migration contrast with those of some other groups, who have been driven to migrate by religious, political or racial persecution.

Question 40

The dependency ratio…

Answer 40

The effect of migration on the dependency ratio is complex.

On the one hand, the fact that migrants are mainly of working age reduces the dependency ratio.

On the other hand, immigrant women tend to have higher fertility rates, which in the short term contributes to a higher dependency ratio by adding more children to the population.

However this also reduces the average age of the population and in due course produces more workers, thereby lowering the dependency ratio as these children grow up and reach working age.

Finally, to complicate matters further, evidence suggests that the longer an immigrant group is settled in the country, the closer their fertility rate comes to the national average.