Demography - Death Rates 12F

Question 1

Define death rates

Answer 1

Number of deaths per 1000 of the population per year

Question 2

What was the death rate in 1900

Answer 2

19

Question 3

Reasons for the decline in death rates

Answer 3

1. Decline in infectious diseases
2. Improved nutrition
3. Medical improvements
4. Public health measures and environmental improvements
5. Other social changes

Question 4

Explain decline in infectious diseases

Answer 4

• Tranter: over 3/4 of the decline in the 1850-1970 was due to a fall in the number of deaths from infectious diseases Eg: influenza
• by 1950’s diseases of affluence had taken over infectious diseases as a cause of death Eg: cancer

Question 5

Explain improved nutrition

Answer 5

• McKeown: argues that this accounts for up to half the reduction in death rates and particularly reduced TB. Better nutrition meant people were more resistant to infection and more able to fight it off
• however some infectious diseases like measles increased during periods of improving nutrition

Question 6

Medical improvements

Answer 6

• 1950’s onwards improvemnts in medical knowledge and facilities helped reduce death rates
• immunisation, antibiotics, high midwifery standards all contributed
• forming of the NHS in 1949

Question 7

Public health measures and environmental improvements

Answer 7

A range of laws have been passed to improve the health of the population
Eg: improvements to housing, sewage, food safety

Question 8

Other social changes

Answer 8

• decline in dangerous manual occupations and smaller families helped reduce ill health and death rates
• higher income allowed for a healthier population and peoples knowledge of health issues improved

Question 9

Define life expectancy

Answer 9

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

Question 10

How long was a male from 1950 expected?

Answer 10

50

Question 11

How long is a male born in 2020 expected?

Answer 11

79

Question 12

How long was a female born in 2020 expected

Answer 12

82.9

Question 13

how does social class affect life expectancy

Answer 13

Working class men in unskilled jobs are 3 times more likely to die before 65 compared to men in professional jobs

Question 14

Walker 2011

Answer 14

Poorest areas in England die on average 7 years earlier c of pared to those in the richest areas

Question 15

How can gender affect life expectancy

Answer 15

Women live longer than men, although the gap is now narrowing

Question 16

How may region affect life expectancy

Answer 16

• those living in the north and Scotland have a lower life expectancy than in the south
• could be due to the wealth divide

Question 18

What was the average age of the uk population in 1971

Answer 18

34

Question 19

What was the average age of the uk population in 2013

Answer 19

40

Question 20

What is the predicted average age of the uk population in 2031

Answer 20

43

Question 21

What demographic trends are typical of developed countries

Answer 21

• low death rates
• lower birth rates
• longer life expectancy

Question 22

What is an ageing population caused by?

Answer 22

• increasing life expectancy
• declining infant mortality rates
• declining fertility

Question 23

What are the effects of an agening population

Answer 23

1. Public services suffer
2. One person pensioner households
3. Dependency ratio
4. Social construction of an ageing population as a problem
5. Policy implications

Question 24

Public services

Answer 24

• possible an agening population nail put more pressure on health and social; care services, as older people tend to use these services more frequently
• can’t generalised as many older people remain in good health

Question 25

One person pensioner households

Answer 25

• more likely to be women
• can effect housing provision ~ single pensioner households living in larger family households

Question 26

The dependency ratio

Answer 26

• the non working old are economically dependent and need to be provided for through taxation to pay for health and pensions
• as the population ages this burden will increase
• causing retirement age in increase in the future

Question 27

What would Marxists say about the dependency ratio

Answer 27

• old are of no use to capitalism as they are no longer productive
• state is therefore unwilling to financially support them adequately
• mainly female relatives step up to bridge the gap in care

Question 28

Social construction of an ageing population as a problem

Answer 28

• discourse on ageing and old age is quite negative and perceived as a problem
• media coverage surround the topic forces on the problems of social care and health services
• in other society’s older people are respected
• ageism in our society has created a social construction of age as a time of vulnerability and dependency

Question 29

Policy implications

Answer 29

Hirsch - a major policy issue is how we finance the ageing population in the future
Argues we need to reverse the trend towards early retirement
Also can encourage older people to downsize their homes, making way for younger families and to free up some of their money
All of these changes require a cultural change in our attitudes to old age