Explain the reasons for the fall in birth rates.

The birth rate is the number of live births per 1000 of the population per year.
The study of demography is focused on how the number of births and deaths, and the number of people entering and leaving the country (migration) all effect the size, age and sex structure of the population. It also involves an examination of the reasons for changes in population. For example, it attempts to explain why people in the UK are living longer. The nuclear family is no longer the main way in which living arrangements are organized in the UK. Even back in 1978, only 20% of families fitted the traditional idea of a married couple household i.e. a father who went out to work and a mother who stayed at home to look after the two children. There are many reasons for the long-term decline in birth rates since 1900. These reasons involve a range of social, economic, cultural, legal, political and technical factors. The factors determining the birth rate are, firstly the proportion of women who are of childbearing age and secondly, how fertile they are. The total fertility rate is the average number of children women will have during their fertile years. The UK’s fertility rate has risen since 2001, but it is still much lower than in the past. These changes in fertility and birth rates reflect the fact that more women are remaining childless than in the past. And also women are postponing having children; the average age for giving birth is now 29.6, and fertility rates for women in their 30’s and 40’s are on the increase. Older women may be less fertile and have fewer fertile years remaining, and so they produce fewer children. The changes in the position of women are a big reason for the fall in births. For example, they now have legal equality with men, including the right to vote, it is easier for them to access divorce and more women are in paid employment, plus laws outlawing unequal pay and sex discrimination.
As a result of these changes, women now see other possibilities in life apart from the traditional role of housewife and mother. Many are choosing to delay childbearing, or not having children at all, in order to pursue a career. For example, in 2006, one in five women aged 45 was childless – double the number of 20 years earlier. There is also a decline in the infant mortality rate; this measures the number of infants who die before their first birthday, per thousand babies born alive, per year. It is argued that a fall in the infant mortality rate leads to a fall in birth rate, this is because if many infants die, parents have more children to replace those they have lost, therefore increasing the birth rate. By contrast, if infants survive, parents will have fewer of them. During the first half of the 20th century, the UK’s infant mortality rate began to fall; this was due to many reasons. There was improved housing and better sanitation, such as flush toilets and clean drinking water, reduced infectious disease. There is better nutrition, including that of mothers and there is a better knowledge of hygiene, child health and welfare, often spread via women’s magazines. Children have become an economic liability; this is because in the 19th century children could be sent out to work at an early age to earn income. However recently they have gradually become an economic liability. There are laws banning child labour, and alternatively have introduced compulsory schooling and raising the school leaving age, which means that children have to remain economically dependent on their parents for longer and longer. There are also changing norms about what children have a right to expect from their parents in material terms which means the cost of bringing up children had raised. As a result of these financial pressures, parents now feel less able or willing than in the past to have a large family. Birth rates, fertility rates and family sizes have all fallen over the last century. However, there has been a slight increase in births since 2001. One reason for this is the increase in immigration because, on average, mothers from outside the UK have a higher fertility rate than those born in the UK. Babies born to mothers from outside the UK accounted for 22% of all births in 2005. However, the projection for the period up to 2041 expects the annual number of births to be fairly constant, at around 700-720,000 per year. To conclude, I think that the main fall in birth rates is due to the fact that children are an economic liability. People find it harder and harder to provide for large families as it’s harder nowadays for both parents to be in a stable job and earning enough money to provide for themselves and their children.