Demography – Families and Households Topic Overview

Topic 7: Demography

Demography refers to the study of the causes and consequences of changes to the size and structure of a society’s population. There are generally three things which can change the size and structure of a population – birth rates, death rates and migration, and these three things make up the three major sub-topics.

As with marriage and divorce, we break this down into discussing the reasons for the changes and then consider the consequences. A final additional topic here is migration patterns, which we deal with separately.

Subtopics

7.1: Reasons for changes to the Birth Rate

7.2: Reasons for changes to the Death Rate

7.3: The consequences of an Ageing Population

7.4: The reasons for and consequences of changes to patterns of Migration

Key concepts, research studies and case studies you should be able to apply

• Birth rate

• Death rate

• Dependency Ratio

• Total fertility rate

• Infant Mortality Rate

• Child Mortality Rate

• Life Expectancy

• Healthy Life Expectancy

• Demographic Transition

• Immigration

• Emigration

• Net Migration

• Push Factors

• Pull Factors

Possible exam style short answer questions

• Suggest two reasons for the long term decline in birth rate (4)

• Suggest changes in the role of women that may explain why they have fewer children (4)

• Suggest three consequences of the decline in the birth rate (6)

• Suggest three reasons for the long term decrease in the death rate (6)

• Suggest three problems society may face as a result of an ageing population (6)

• Suggest three ways in which the elderly might be represented in stereotypical ways (6)

• Suggest three ways in which society might respond to the challenges of an ageing population (6)

• Suggest three pull factors which might attract people to immigrate into a particular country (6)

• Suggest two push factors which might explain patterns of migration (4)

• Identify two changes in the patterns of child-bearing over the last thirty years (4)

Possible Essay Questions – You should plan these

• Examine the reasons for, and the effects of, changes in family size over the past 100 years or so (24) (January 2012)

• Using material from item B and elsewhere assess the view that an ageing Population creates problems for society (24) (June 2014)