However there have been changes in births, with three 'baby dooms' in the 20th century. The family size is the number of people living in the same house as a child. There has also been a considerable change in family sizes since the 1900’s; it has decreased from an average of 3 to 1.6 children. The reasons for these changes are: The introduction of contraception’s has had a big impact on the number of birth rates. This was introduced in the mid 1960’s which allowed women to take control of their own fertility, which saw more women use contraception’s so birth rates decreased as a result of this.
Examine the reasons for changes in birth rates and family size since 1900. 24 marks. The birth rate is the number of live births per 1000 of the population per year. There has been a decrease in the birth rate from 1900 to 2007 in England and Wales of an estimated 10.7, resulting in a decrease in family size. Many factors caused the change in birth rate and family size since 1900, including the changes in the position of women.
Examine the main trends in births and death rates in the United Kingdom since 1900. As the country’s population changes they are factors that contribute to the change in population. The main factors that affect population change in a country are birth and death rates. Over the years birth rates have largely declined leading to smaller family size due to various reasons, these reasons include a lower infant mortality, change in position of women and also change in position of children. Although there has been in a decrease in birth rate in the UK, net migration has lead to slight increase in the total fertility rate in the UK.
This was particularly important in reducing the number of people dying from tuberculosis (TB). Because of this better and improved nutrition, the resistance to infections has also increased, as well as the survival chances of those who did become infected. However, many have argued Mckeown’s point of view, as it does not include or explain the reason,
There have been many changes in the death and birth rate for many different reasons which have caused these rates to both increase and decrease throughout the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st. In general the trend for birth rates since 1900 is that it has dropped from around 1.1 million to about 0.7 million in 2001. Deaths have generally stayed the same at around 0.6 million wavering back and forth. Fertility rates have also changed from 115 live births per 1000 women aged between 15 and 44 in 1900 to only 54.5 in 2001. Life expectancy in 1900 was only around 47 for men and 50 for women whereas it now in 2013 83 for men and 87 for women.
The increase in divorce has led to more reconstituted families, singlehood and single parenthood, therefore the family size has generally decreased apart from in cases where reconstituted families have been formed. This increase in divorce is due to many factors, one of which is the changes in legislation over the past 100 years. Since 1912 (100 years ago) there has been 5 changes in legislation, these were in 1949, 1950, 1971, 1984 and 1996. The change that caused the greatest increase in divorce was the Divorce Reform Act in 1971. This emphasized the idea of a matrimonial offence, and avoided the need for a guilty party.
He said this as he thought that better nutrition increased the resistance against infections and helped our immune systems to fight them. Although this seems logical, critics say that he doesn’t explain why females, who receive a smaller share of food, lived longer than males. Also how it doesn’t explain why infectious diseases such as measles rose. In the 1950’s improved medical knowledge, techniques and organisations helped to reduce the amounts of deaths. This was due to advances in not just the medical practice but the actual medicine used, for example there were advances in antibiotics.
The main and most important reason for the decrease in marriages and increase in divorces was the fact that changing attitudes towards them. People now believe that is alright to get divorce is they are not happy in their marriage and with that the stigma towards divorces (Goody)had decreased as now divorces are day to day basis like the way we see in magazines articles about celebrities getting divorce and no one is against it anymore, when as before older members of the family would make the young couple stay together doesn’t matter what as that’s how they have been told. That the same for marriage as more and more people wants to cohabitate with their partner rather than get married as women now have more opportunities to work and set own rules about their life’s that before wasn’t possible. This leads to second important reason for the changes is which is the changes in laws. since women are earning money now they can afford to make divorce petition and the divorces had become cheaper.
Assess the reasons given by sociologists for the increasing diversity of families and households in the 21st century Sociologists have identified the many changes in society that have affected the structure of the family. This includes smaller families, more childless couples, single person households and empty nest families. One very clear change in British family life is the decrease in the average number of children people have. The average number of children per family was 2.4 in 1971, compared to 1.6 in 2001. Women are having children later.
After the 'baby boom' after the Second World War, the UK's population experienced much less births tham before. In 2004, 716 000 children were born, which is 21% fewer than in 1071. This decline of the birth rate may be caused by the decline in the infant mortality rate. More children survive the first years of their life because sanitation, medical care, water supplies and nutrition have imporved throughout the century. This meant that parents did not have the need to have lots of children to ensure that a few survived, and families got smaller.