There are many reasons for the death rate to fluctuate. Since 1900 there has been a decrease in the amounts of death and the average age of death has rose as life expectancy is now longer than in 1900. In 1901, life expectancy for a man was 45 and a woman 49, more recently life expectancy is a large amount higher as in 2009 life expectancy for a man is 78 and a woman 82. Furthermore, infant mortality rate has also declined since 1900.
Firstly a key factor for the decrease in the death rate is the better healthcare the country now has improved massively. In 1900, many people were to die due to illnesses that we wouldn’t see as a problem anymore such as the flu. There weren’t antibiotics and other ways to help cure these illnesses, and the ways they did have weren’t effective enough to stop people dying. In addition there are massive heath care services available in the 21st century which weren’t available in 1900 to help ill or diseased people such as the National Health Service (NHS). Similarly, medical knowledge has improved hugely as we are more aware of illnesses/diseases and the cures of these problems which could lead to death that in 1900, people weren’t aware off. Secondly, the standard of living in the 1900 may have had an impact on the death rate. Many people had large families to provide for and they usually lived in small houses that may not be fit for the amount of people living in them. Today in the 21st century there has been a change in family size by decreasing and this has stopped the deaths in the family as illnesses and diseases aren’t transmitted to one another quickly as they live together in a more fit for purpose environment. Also people had lower incomes in 1900 so they didn’t have money to spend on maybe enough food or a stable place to live or overall just didn’t have enough to provide for a whole family fully. To continue, another reason standard of life has decreased the death rate as jobs are safer. Today, there are laws such as health and safety laws to make sure that jobs are safe for workers and the conditions they work in are stable and to minimise the risk of death or injuring in the work place. In 1900, jobs such as mining were still at large and these were not safe conditions to be working in many people were to die, be majorly injured, or hurt doing jobs such as this. Furthermore, as stated before the life expectancy of people in England has rapidly increased over the last 100 years, this has played a significant factor on the death rate. People are living for longer than back in 1900, this is due to the help that can be provided for the elderly. There are jobs in the modern day world designed especially to help the older people in whatever they may need. In 1900, these were not available therefore the elderly would have to do a lot for themselves which could lead to them being stressed as they were not capable to do the things needed to help them survive therefore this led to earlier deaths than today, a shorter life expectancy. Lastly, also stated earlier infant mortality has declined. As of the better medical knowledge less children are dying in the first year of being born, as of this people do not feel the need to have so many children as it isn’t so likely for them to die in their childhood. Many infants died in the 1900, so parents would decide to have more children to make sure their children were to survive this also has an input on the death rate in comparison to how it has decreased today.
The death rates decrease since 1900 has both negative and positive impacts to today’s society. A negative consequence for the death rates decrease is that as we now have an aging population they may use or become dependent on the countries public services which may be needed for our younger generation also. What’s more, there is a huge cost of these services to help care for the elderly of today. To continue the negative consequences the population of the country and world is growing as a whole as of the aging population, some people state that this is leading to an overcrowded country which could be seen as a problem if over the next 100 years the aging is to continue. Lastly a key problem is the dependency ratio, as the population is growing older this now means that a higher percentage of the population is out of work as many elderly people are retired. This then means that less money is coming into the country as a whole and there is less money to be taxed to then give to the elderly in such ways such as the health care for the older generation. On the other hand, there are positive impacts on today’s society due to the decrease in death rate. Firstly, as people are living to an older age families have more generations which then means more help for the family. Over the years grandparents and older generations have huge help of the younger generation this is a hugely significant factor on today’s society. As grandparents help out to look after the children they can be seen as a work force helping child care, and furthermore most elderly are out of work therefore they are available a large period of time meaning that both parents are able to go out and work to bring in money for their family as one of the parents does not need to be at home looking after their children. As of this bean pole families are often seen where the family structure is often vertically extended rather than horizontally. In addition the elderly have often worked in their life time and are receiving financial help in their retirement; this frequently means that the elderly generation may be able to support the younger family with financial help if needed so they the aging population may be seen as positive impact as they support younger generations which financial aids. To conclude, the death rates change since 1900 can be seen as both a negative and positive impact but the positive effects may be more important than those of the negatives.