Examine the reasons for, and the consequences of, the fall in death rates since 1900. (24 Marks) • Consequences- Ageing population in Britain- Government spending NHS/Welfare -Lack of jobs for elderly- e.g. B&Q • Reasons- Improvements in healthcare and medicines -Safer jobs Death rates are the number of deaths per 100,000 of the population per year. Since 1900 due to improvements in many areas, a few examples being medicine, welfare and safer jobs, death rate in countries such as Britain have decreased at a large rate, with the consequences causing several problems due to this development. It can be linked to other factors such as increased life expectancy and a decrease in birth rates that happened in the same time frame, which were also influential on the consequences of decreasing death rates.
These changes in fertility shows that more women are remaining childless than in the past and women are postponing having children, older women may be less fertile and have fewer fertile years remaining, so they produce fewer children. Sociologist have identified many reason for the decline in birth rate since 1900, these reasons involve a range of social, economic, cultural, legal, political and technological factors. Changes in the position of women also plays a role in the decline of birth rate, this is because there was a major change in the position of women during the 20th century. The change in position of women include legal equality with men, including the right to vote, increased educational opportunity this enabled girls to do better at school than boy. More women in paid employment, plus laws outlawing unequal pay and sex discrimination.
The Depression was recorded to have decreased the marriage rate which helped lead to a decline in the birth rate. It is documented to be the first time in American history that the birth rate dropped below replacement level (Mintz & McNeil, 2014). An increase in illness and disease occurred from poor living conditions and lack of income. Unemployment rates skyrocketed which led to an increase in eviction rates and homelessness. Men were
While gas grills were seeing a 8 percent increase since the previous year charcoal grills had dropped by 3 percent. Charcoal grill penetration was trending down since 1997 and gas grill penetration was trending up. Another contributing factor may have been a increase in price by stores to their private label brands as well as their main competitor (who also produced these stores private brands) increase their price as well. Kingsford had kept the prices the same though some stores had increased the prices on their own. Kingsford had also reduced their media presences since 1996 (because of a decrease in media spending), a direct from the text by Warren explains " The charcoal category was now paying the price for the several years of reduced advertising".
Government spending cuts reduce output significantly, and Extract B, line 2 states that the ONS have found that there has been ‘a sharp fall in employment in the public sector which has helped to push total unemployment above 2.5 million last month’. This therefore proves that there will be a significant reduction in public sector employment however there will be a greater demand for the private sector output and as a result an increase in employment in the private sector. In contrary, reducing government spending also helps to reduce the national debt in the economy so that a budget surplus can be achieved. (AD/AS diagram shifting left or unemployment) Extract C, line 2 states that ‘the 2.5% rise in VAT…will drive up unemployment’ and this is a fiscal policy measure that will affect unemployment in the economy because with an increase in VAT consumers will be less resistant in buying goods because they have to spend more and so they instead decide to save which is known as a withdrawal from the circular flow of income. Furthermore, an increase in taxation such as income tax and VAT will also reduce aggregate demand from AD1 to AD2 and real GDP because
b) Explain how the UKs population structure has changed since 1900 as a result of social changes. (15) The main factors that have contributed to a significant population change since the 1900s are family size, migration and improvements in health care. However they can be split up into internal and external issues, as many factors are on a global scale. The family size has decreased significantly over the past 100 years, as many women had 3.25 babies during their reproductive years however this fell later in the 20th century to 2.03 children nowadays the average family has only 1 child or no child at all. During the early 20th century the suffragette movement passed, meaning equal rights for women led to changes, allowing more freedom to the opposite sex.
“Such policies might, in fact, upset a national balance that correlates with the unprecedented drop in crime and the rise in public safety over the past two decades” (Domenech). Mass murders track closely with the homicide rate, but over the last decade the rates have dropped to lower than they have been since the 1960’s. Mass murder attracts a lot of attention from the media and although we may think that crime is rising, according to Domenech, we are living at a time when violent crime is at a historic low. Grant Duwe, a PH. D researcher in Minnesota, blames media’s irresponsibility for creating a false impression of rising mass murder because claims makers have relied almost exclusively on national news coverage as a source of data.
The government also outlawed the employment of children under 12. From 1900- 1907 the government also spent more money on public works. This proved to be a success because they improved; the roads, farming (following the poor harvest in 1897) and finally reducing food taxation across Italy. Not only did this mean by improving farming they reduced the risk of a poor harvest again, but the government had also helped the poor because they could now afford food. The government also dealt with the health of the Italian citizens very well.
Mortality Rates As the medicinal industry becomes more advanced, life quality drastically improves. There are many causes to why mortality rates in the 1500’s were low but there are also multiple factors that helped changed the mortality rates to the way it is currently. Mortality rates of today have decreased vastly compared to the 1500's mortality rates in Europe. “A mortality rate is a measure of the frequency of occurrence of death in a defined population during a specified interval.” There are sub categories in mortality rates, such as crude, cause-specific, age-specific, infant mortality rates, and much more. During the 1500’s in Europe, one in every three or four children born died before the age of 15.
This period is referred to as the "baby boom" era. Many children were conceived, and those children are now our elderly population. After the baby boom era, fertility rates have been steadily declining. The working class are taxed for FICA (federal insurance contribution act), which funds social security. The problem is that there are less working class then there is the elderly population.