Demographic Trends

General

The population of the UK has grown from 1971 to 2003 to nearly 60 million people. The rate pf population change depends on 4 demographic trends 

• Birth Rate(live births per 1000 of population in a year)
• Fertility Rate( live births per 1000 women of childbearing age)
• Death rate(deaths per 1000 of population in a year)
• Migration (number of people entering UK) and Emigration (people leaving UK)

Reasons for population growth today are largely due to increase in net migration as it accounted for 2/3 of the increase in population and the increase in life expectancy of average UK person.

Birth Rate

716 000 children were born in 2004

34% fewer births than in 1901

21% fewer than 1971

However the decline in birth rate hasn't been consistent throughout history but has had fluctuated. For example there was a fall iin births during the First World War but an increase postwar with births rising to 1.1 million in 1920. The birth rate fell and remained low before climbing again with another 'baby-boom' after the Second World War. There was also an increase in births in the late 1980s and early 1990s which…