Families and Households- Demography (topic 4)

Births

sociologists use the concept of birth rate to measure births. the birth rate is defined as the number of live births per thousand of the population per year.

stats for decline in births:

figure 4.2 shows, there has been a long-term decline in the number of births since 1900. in that year, England and wales had a birth rate of 28 .7%, but by 2014 it had fallen to an estimated 12.2%

however, as figure 4.2 shows, there has been fluctuations in births, with three 'baby booms' in the 20th century. the first two came after the world wars (1914-18 and 1939-45), as returning servicemen and their partners started families that they had postponed during the war years.

there was a third baby boom in the 1960s, after which the birth rate fell sharply during the 1970's. the rate rose during the 1980's, before falling again after the early 1990's, with some increase since 2001.

the total fertility rate:

the factors determining the birth are, firstly, the proportion of women who are of childbearing age (usually taken to be aged 15-44) and, secondly, how fertile they are-that is, how many children they have. the total fertillity rate (TFR) is the average number of children women will have during their fertile years:

stats for fertility rate:

the UK's TFR has risen in the recent years, but it is still much lower than the past. From an all-time low of 1.63 children per woman in 2001, it rose to 1.83…