Women are now remaining childless because children are now seen as an economic liability because they are so dependent on their parents for a long time, whilst back in 1960’s many more children went off to work as education up to 16 wasn’t compulsory till 1972. Also women are having children much later, currently the average age for giving birth is 29.6. Older women tend to be less fertile and don’t have many fertile years left and because of that reason they are producing less children.in 2006 one in five women aged 45 was childless – double the number of 20 years before. Also position of women has changed a lot, women now have the right to vote and legal equality. Also there are more educational opportunities for women, whereas before women were expected to train to become good housewives it is now expected that women leave school with GCSE’s. Following on from education, women now go out to work and there are now laws in place that state women should get equal pay and sex discrimination is no longer permitted in work places. Also due to the Feminism movement there have been many changes in attitudes to family life. Additionally the access to abortion and contraception gave women control over their fertility. As a result of all of this women no longer feel the need to play the traditional role of housewife; women are now playing the expressive and the instrumental role in many households.
In conclusion the changes in women’s positions have resulted in a decrease in the birth rate. On one hand the decrease in the birth rate could be seen as a good thing for the people who pay taxes because if there are less children then it means the need for schools, maternity services and child services also decreases. And since children make up such a large part of the dependency ratio less children means less money on those institutions.
Since 1900 death rates in the UK have remained reasonably stable at about 600,000 per year. Considering that in 1900 the population was far smaller than it is now. There have been fluctuations in the death rates; these fluctuations took place during the two world wars. Also the influenza epidemic raised the deaths to a record level of 690,000. The death rate began falling in 1870 to 1930 it then rose slightly between the 1930-40’s this was because of the economic depression. Death rate is the number of deaths per thousand of the population per year. The death rate has fallen since 1900, in 1900 the rate was 19 but in 2007 it had nearly halved to 10.
There are many reasons for the decline in the death rate. The decline of the death rate between 1850’s and 1970’s was due to a fall in the number of deaths from infectious diseases such as influenza, scarlet fever, typhoid and mainly tuberculosis. In the 1950’s ‘diseases of affluence’ i.e. heart disease and cancers replaced the infectious diseases and became the main cause of death. Also better nutrition has resulted for a decline in the death rate because if people are eating better they can build up resistance to certain illnesses. Additionally there was a large improvement in the medical services such as the introduction of antibiotics, immunisations, blood transfusions and better standards of midwifery and maternity services and finally the setup of the NHS in 1949. Furthermore there were improvements in housing; better ventilated and less overcrowded accommodation. As well as the pasteurisation of milk and improved sewage disposal methods.
As the death rates have fallen, life expectancy has increased as we are all living healthier lives. In the 1900 men born in England could expect to live to 50 and women to 57. Whilst males born in England in 2003 can expect to live to 76.9 and women to 81.2. a new born baby has a better chance of reaching their 65th birthday than a child born in 1900 had of reaching its 1st birthday.
In conclusion due to better health care and nutrition we have seen a decrease in the death rate. The decrease in the death rates has led to a rise in the age of our population. In 1971 the average age of the UK population was 34.1 years. In 2007 it rose to 39.6 and a future projection is that in 2031 it will rise to 42.6. there are fewer young people and more old people in our population. In 2014 the number of people aged 65 and over is projected to overtake the number of under 16s for the first time ever. Both of these groups are economically dependent and are provided for by people who work through taxes. As the number of people retiring rises so does the dependency ratio and as does the burden on people who are of working age.
by
abbieleft (student)
