demography

Question 1

demography is the study of statistics that measure the size and growth of a population e.g birth rate

population size is affected by births, deaths, and migration

Answer 1

• population generally increases when birth rates are higher than death (mortality) rates
• low fertility / high mortality rates = decline in population (too few children to replace those dying)
• immigration (how many people enter)
• emigration (how many people leave)
• net migration (difference between the two)

Question 2

birth and fertility rates have decreased

• TFR (total fertility rate) = average number of children a women will have during her fertile years

Answer 2

• baby boom after the world war’s = increase. now it’s falling
Why?
- child centredness (quality not quantity) childhood important so needs to be spoiled
- changes in women’s position e.g educational, employment, equality with men. contraception
- kids economic liabilities (laws banning child labour etc mean kids dependent for longer
- decline in infant mortality rate (number of infants who die before 1st birthday per 1000 live births per year) less baby 2 replace dead 1

Question 3

death rates have decreased

• number of deaths per 1000 of the population per year

Answer 3

• declined since 1950’s

Why?

• improved nutrition and cleanliness e.g public awareness of how infections are transmitted means better + more food = resistance to infections
• medical improvements e.g knowledge, techniques (treatments, antibiotics, improved maternity services)
• less people smoking now, less obesity-related deaths

Question 4

Life expectancy

• how long on average a person born in a given year can expect to live

Answer 4

• life expectancy has increased
• women generally live longer than men (but changes in women’s position/lifestyle is decreasing this e.g more women smoking)
• working class men in unskilled jobs more likely to die before 65 compared to men in professional jobs
• Walker - poorer area of living = earlier death

Question 5

The population is ageing, there are more old people

Answer 5

Why?

• increasing life expectancy: people are living until older
• declining infant mortality: fewer babies dying before 1st birthday (nutrition, hygiene, improved housing e.g clean water)
• declining fertility rate: less people being born

Question 6

Consequences of the ageing population

Answer 6

• increased expenditure on public services e.g health and social care
• one-person pensioner households: women live longer, usually younger than husbands too
• dependency ratio (tax to pay for non-working old people’s healthcare etc just like non-working children) >ageing population=higher burden on society to pay for them - sociologist suggest retirement age should be less or tax should increase in younger years

Question 7

Ageism

• discrimination against older people because of their age

Answer 7

• increases with ageing population e.g burden of increased dependency ratio

class affects poverty in pensioners: less likely to be in poverty if had a higher status jobs during working lives, lower status more susceptible to illness. lower class less likely to have savings/private pensions to support themselves

• women have smaller pensions: time off work for children

Question 8

fixed orderly life stages have broken down (post modernists)

Answer 8

• children act and dress older
• children and marriage later in life
• early retirement
  = greater choice of lifestyle throughout life

Question 9

Marxist perspective on ageing population

Answer 9

• don’t benefit capitalism as they do not work, and so

- as a result the state is unwilling to support them, so it becomes the responsibility of relatives (often female)

Question 10

Net migration has increased

more people joining rather than leaving

Answer 10

• push + pull factors for emigration= unemployment at home, higher wages/better opportunities abroad
• british nationality act made it easier for old members of Brit commonwealth (empire) to migrate
• war and political conflicts in other countries meant there were more refugee’s who needed to evacuate their countries

Question 11

Impact of increasing net migration

Answer 11

• immigrants tend to be young and of working age (e.g coming here to get jobs) so this decreases the average age of the country
• decreases dependent ratio temporarily - more people to care for young + old
• increase in multi-family/extended family households (culture)

Question 12

Globalisation has increased international migration

Answer 12

• nations become more connected, less barriers separating societies
- media, ethnic diversity (migrants come of all different ethnicities,cultures, religions)