Been in a long term decline in the last 1000 years with exceptions to ‘baby booms’ from WW1 & WW2 from returning soilders

In a steady decline with only 1-2 compared to the past when the average was 3-4 kids

1. Changes in the position of women- increased educational opportunities, more women in paid work and changing changing attitudes towards family life/women’s position in family

• greater access to abortion and contraception

2. Fall in infant mortality rate- improved housing, sanitation, nutrition, technology and medicinal advancements

3. Children as an economic liability- changing laws of child labour/compulsory education has meant children remain economically dependent

• changing attitudes with children having a higher standard of living raises costs (1 child costs 250K from 0-18th)

4. Child centredness- childhood is now a social construct and seen as an important period of life so parents now focus on quality over quantity, so have fewer children and give more attention/resources to them

The dependency ratio increases- relationship between the size of the working population and the dependent population

• the working peoples earnings support the dependent population via taxes

Women have to care for them so cannot have full time jobs so have fewer children to reduce the ‘burden of dependency’

Public services- fewer schools and child health services, but more health services/NHS and social care filled by the elderly

Decreased steadily long term with exceptions to WW1 & WW2 and flu epidemic

1. Improved nutrition- improved resistance to infection

3. Public health improvements- better housing, cleaner air/water, less people are smoking and more people are dieting

4. Social change- declining manual labour jobs ands greater knowledge of diseases

• women live longer- ‘feminisation of later life’, due to having better lifestyles, biological differences and benefit more from medical advancements

• elderly live longer due to benefits/improved diet, nutrition and better health care (aging population)

• social class differences- middle class live longer due to government policies which make working class people suffer life dependency

Increased strain on public services- older people take up larger proportions of services (E.g health/social care)

More one person households- takes up housing for the young

GRIFFIN- this is an exaggeration the elderly are healthy and can look after children whilst parents work

People now have to wait till 67 to receive pensions

age is important for role allocation, creating fixed life stages and age related identities (E.g pensioner)

the old are excluded from the role in the labour force and are made dependent

Middle class have better pensions due to better jobs than working lass

Due to glass ceiling women have lower pensions which reduces their freedom

Women are seen as ‘old hags’- age discrimination restricts our freedom which therefore can shape our identity

1. Pensions arent Lasting as long- need to improve finance for longer periods through more taxes or working longer

2. Housing policies- encourage people to size down and release wealth to improve standard of living and free up housing for younger people

3. Cultural changes towards elderly- old age is a social construct and in an aging society the ‘retiring age’ will change

Push factors

• unemployment
• economic ressession

Pull factors

• higher wages
• better opportunities

Indirectly- younger people means more fertile which can help balenced and decrease the dependency ratio, migrant women also have a higher fertility rate

• globalisation- barriers that came down to create an inter-connected society based on different cultures and identities

People are becoming increasingly inter-connected across nation barriers

Led to ‘super diversity’ where migrants come from a wide range of countries

• multiculturalism- migrants came form a country and kept their culture meaning they have a separate cultural identity

• Assimilation- when migrants are forced to adopt the culture of the county they moved to (E.g language/values) to make them ‘like us’