The rate rose during the 1980s, before falling again after the early 1990s, with a recent increase since 2001. Some of the factors that affects the size and structure of the population are the proportion of women who are of childbearing age and how fertile they are. The UK's fertility rate has risen since 2001, but it is still much lower than in the past. From an all-time low of 1.63 children per woman in 2001 to 1.84 by 2006. 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.
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.
The decline of workers contributing to Social Security means there will be less benefits that will be replaced. Currently the Baby boomers have the highest labor force participation of any generations in American history. (Crain, 2006) The generations following the Baby Boomer generation will not have the numbers to replace the Baby Boomers place in the workforce. According to Crain (2006) nearly 90% of the Baby Boomer generation works, which is over half of the entire workforce in the nation. About 80% of female Baby Boomers worked which was also a contribution to the two income family.
The late 60's early 70's saw marriages in the UK grow, reaching the highest peak recorded in the history of the UK in 1972 at 480,000, however by 2001 this figure had dropped to 206,000. Along side this, the average age for first marriages rose by seven years between 1971 and 2005, where the figure reached 30 for women and 32 for males. The significant drop in marriage rates over the years is due to many factors. Firstly, the late 60's/early 70's, saw the so-called 'baby-boom' period from the 50's come into effect, after WW2 ended in the early 50's, men where coming back from war, and getting there wife's pregnant, due to not seeing each other for so long etc, this in turn meant that there was a boom period for baby's being born, the late 60's/early 70's where now seeing these baby's, who by this time where in their late teens and early twenties marrying each other at a younger age, than previous generations. This explains why there is such a peak between 1970-1980, a higher birth rate years before meant that there was a higher marriage rate, especially the record figure in 72.
Over the last forty years marriage and cohabitation patterns have drastically changed due to various reasons and changes in society. Firstly I will look at the changes in first marriages. In 1951 there were approximately 330,000 first marriages in the UK, whereas in 2009 there were only 190,000. This clearly shows the dramatic decline in first marriages. The reasons for this decrease are due to a change in social norms and a decline in social stigma.
The issue is the fact that still, 1 in 5 of these same youth live in very low income households. This is especially of grave concern given that the cost of living has shown a steady increase over the last ten years (Center for Health, “Los Angeles County Services for Transition Age Youth: Programs, Data,and Recommendations”). The report goes on to state that in 2006, the federal poverty level for a family of 4 was $20,444. Yet the California Budget Project announced that the Self-Sufficiency Standard for the same size family is $48,590. Finally, as indicated in the Los Angeles Almanac’s report on “Homelessness in Los Angeles County”, here are some important facts to consider regarding the homeless population in Los Angeles County: 1.
During the 1970’s, divorce rates had double (and the number of divorces tripled from 400,000 in 1962 to 1.2 million in 1981) (Ministries). This was due to the baby booming generation. While older couples still lived by the tradition they were brought up in. Age plays a huge facto in divorce. According to Divorce Rate, “between the ages of 20 to 29 the divorce rate is greater than couples 30 and older.” Some statistics say at least 66 percent of younger couples end up divorced because of childless issues.
Along with the underprepared nurses, there is also the lack of youths choosing to enter the healthcare field. In 2010 a report funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation estimated that in order to meet the growing shortage the baccalaureate prepared workforce would need to be increased by 80 percent, currently it has only grown 55 percent (Institute of Medicine,
By the 1990s lone-parent mothers had a 2 in 3 chance of being poor. Women's greater life expectancy, their lower wages, lack of private pensions and disrupted employment patterns also help to explain why the majority of the elderly poor are women. At the other end of the scale, families in the top 20% of income brackets are most likely to contain a married couple (at least one of whom generally has a university degree), live in a major city, and own a home and a car. Women in these families, families that are the most likely to conform to the stereotypical but distorted image of the family, tend to be either professionals and managers with high-paying jobs, or they stay out of the labour force. Today the majority of married women are working or are actively looking
In the article “The Truth about Marriage” it talks about how the age people get married has changed a great amount. In the past, most Americans would be more likely to more to marry in their teens and early twenties. In 1970 and on, the ages of people getting marries had risen. Today, the most common ages is close to 29 for men and close to 27 for women. Another common aspect of American life now, is people rejecting marriage.