Demographic Trends in UK | Birth and Fertility Rates | A Level Sociology - Families

[0:00]Welcome to this tutor to you sociology topic video, looking at demographic trends in the UK, focusing on birth and fertility rates. One of the key demographic trends sociologists look at when examining changes to the population are birth rates, fertility rates and infant mortality rates. But what are these and why are they important? Birth rates are the number of live births that occur in each year per 1,000 of the population. It seems obvious to state that the more people there are in a country, the more children there will be, so we have to calculate these so that we can compare from one society to the next. So instead of looking at the total numbers born, we divide the number of children by the size of the population, and this gives us a better idea of how much the population is expanding. Another way of measuring this is through fertility rates. Fertility rates are the average number of children a woman will have during her lifetime. Of course, some women will have no children and some will have multiple children, so it's averaged out across the population of females. A third measurement which helps us to explain some of the changes in birth rates and fertility rates in the is the infant mortality rate. And this is the number of babies that do not survive their first year, again, per 1,000 of the population. This too is measured as a rate, as larger populations, sadly, more children will die before their first birthday. These measures are important as they give us indications as to how the population might change. In recent years, there's been a decrease in the number of children born in the UK. In 2018, just over 650,000 children were born in the UK, but this was a 3% decrease on the previous year, and almost a 10% decline since the last increase in new births in 2012. The fertility rate has also been dropping as a result, with women having an average of 1.7 children each. The infant mortality rate in the UK was less than four per 1,000 in 2018, although there are regional variations (e.g. 4.2 in Northern Ireland). These trends were part of a longer trend of decline. In 1947, the birth rate in the UK peaked over 20 births per thousand of the population, or around about 2%. This is what was often referred to as the baby boom and where we get the term boomer from. Since then, this has continually declined, with the birth rate last year being 11 births per 1,000 of the population, around about 1.1%, which is almost half. Similarly, over time, fertility has dropped from 2.93 children per woman in 1964 to 1.70 in 2018. Women are having a whole child less on average in the 21st century than in the 1960s. There's also been a decline in infant mortality from 9.8 to 3.9 over the past 35 years. In no small part due to better knowledge of children's medicines and still births being at their lowest ever recorded level. These last two statistics impact on the number of children being born. As the less tragic deaths of children there are, the less people are likely to have additional children. How can we explain these trends? Well, we're going to look at four explanations for these changes. Firstly, the changing economic position of women, then the cost of children, the availability of contraception and the reduction in the infant mortality rate. Each of these reasons can be linked to other changes that we've discussed, so it's worth adding to those reasons to really develop your understanding of demographic trends. First of all, we'll look at the economic position of women. Now research shows a negative correlation between female employment and the number of births. As more women are working in contemporary society, less children are being born. As women are focusing on their careers, they are either delaying child bearing until later in life or choosing to have less or no children. This can be evidenced by the increase in female employment over the latter part of the last century and the early part of this century compared to the declining birth and fertility rates witnessed as a result. Another reason is the increased expense of children. As we've seen in our earlier videos on childhood, it's estimated that the cost of raising children is in the region of 150 to 185,000 pounds from birth to their 18th birthday. With the growth of children's markets and pester power, children are increasingly expensive to raise. Compared to previous generations, where children were seen as a form of economic insurance for their parents' old age, people are choosing to have less children due to the increased affluence of older people in society. Now, this is in part due to pensions and people's savings having more value than they did in the past, whereas today many young people are unable to afford to save due to higher costs of living. Evidence for the cost of children comes from Bookman and Rottkirch, who surveyed women and found that one of the most important factors in having children was the cost. Another reason for the declining birth rate is the availability and effectiveness of contraception. This has enabled women to have greater control over their reproductive rights and for families to effectively plan when they're going to have children. Other factors impacted on birth rates is the legalization of abortion in 1969, which has led to reductions in unwanted pregnancies. A final impact of contraception on the birth rate has been greater awareness of sexually transmitted infections, and this has led to increased usage of contraception and a focus on shared responsibility between partners, rather than just women, to take precautions to guard against unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. Finally, the decrease in infant mortality rate has impacted on the falling birth rate. Greater advances in medical technology, particularly in neonatal medicine have meant that more children are surviving into adulthood than ever before. As a result, women are less likely to have additional children as they're more certain that their children will live into adulthood. These advances have also led to women having children at older ages, as in previous generations, it was believed that women faced more danger of having pregnancies over the age of 30. Having children in later life also means that women are likely to have less children than somebody who has their first child in their early 20s. The impacts of these changes are that there are less children in society as a proportion of the population. This in turn means the average age of the population will increase, and this is particularly coupled with falling death rates and people living longer. At present, the average age of a UK citizen is 40, which suggests the UK has an aging population. Now, this could lead to an imbalance in the dependency ratio, as people leave employment market when they retire, but there aren't enough young people to fill the roles that are left vacant. This also increases the burden of those working to pay for those that aren't, something which may be addressed through increasing the retirement age or reducing pensions to compensate. That concludes this tutor to you sociology topic video on demographic trends in the UK, looking at birth and fertility rates. Thanks for watching.