Fertility Rates & Life Expectancy How have changes in these affected households?

Falling fertility rates  The term fertility refers to the average number of children that women (usually between 15 – 44 yrs old) have in society  Women now have fewer children than 30 years ago and so we now tend to see smaller families  Women are also having children later on in life  Average age in 1971 was 26 in 2006 it was 30

Changes in fertility and social change  Changes in fertility are linked to;  Changing attitudes towards family size.  In the 19thC poor families had large families because of economic factors  Children worked whilst very young and the family were dependent on everyone bringing in a wage  Today children are economically dependent on their parents

Women and employment  Women’s participation in education and paid employment has increased  One impact of the Feminist movement is that women no longer feel their only role is that of motherhood  Equal pay and sex discrimination acts have given women a wider range of options  Women also tend to get married later in life and have better access to birth control

Activity  How have patterns of fertility changed over the past 30 years?  Explain how changes in society have influenced these changes

Life Expectancy  Life expectancy at birth is the average number of years a baby may be expected to live  In 1901 this was 45 yrs for men and 49 for women  This would now be classed as middle aged  In 2008 this had increased form 76 yrs for men and 81 for women  In the future life expectancy is expected to increase further

Why are people living longer?  Public health provision  During the 20thC services such as clean water supplies, sewerage systems and waste disposal has meant that fewer people died from water borne disease  Preventative medicine such as vaccination programmes have eliminated serious infectious diseases such as polio

 Life expectancy can also be linked to advances in medicine and surgery.  Scientific advances in research help us find cures for diseases such as cancer  Diet and nutrition also plays a part  Although we have much obesity in Western society we are still better nourished as a whole compared to 100 years ago

Decrease in Infant mortality rates  Infant mortality refers to the number of children dying in the first year of life  In 1930 there were 60 deaths per 1000 births  In 2006 this had fallen to 5 deaths per 1000 births  This is due to better Ante & Post Natal care, technological advances and an increase in the availability of qualified midwives

Activity  People in Britain live longer today than they did 100 years ago.  Identify and explain 2 reasons for this  Outline one reason for improved infant mortality rates  How have changing fertility rates and life expectancy affected the family and society?