Geography in the News: Baby Boom in the UK

Hello my name is Abigail Broadbent. I am a Geography Teacher at Greenhead College. I teach AQA, A Level Geography. I was asked recently if I would like to blog for tutor2u. If you are interested in up to date Geography issues to use in your exams, please take a look at my blogs which will be about Geography in the News.Here is my first blog!BABY BOOM IN 2011!Useful for AS students studying populationHave a read of this article that hit headlines yesterday (21 January 2013):http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21120593The Census data has proved that in 2011, 688,120 babies were born in England, the highest number since 1971. Have a look at the population pyramid for the UK below:

Quiz:

- Why are we currently experiencing a baby boom in the UK?

- What impact would this have on our dependency ratio?

- What influence would this have on our ageing population?

- Would this make us move into stage 5 of the DTM (demographic transition model) or keep us in stage 4?

- What impact is this ‘baby boom’ having on our NHS?

- It seems to show that we are entering a baby boom – like the WW2 baby boom – have a look at those on the population pyramid who are 61-65 years old (i.e. born in
the years after WW2) Can you spot two other baby booms that the UK has had? What years were they born in?

You can check your answers below:

The website that this population pyramid is from is really worth a look. It shows an animation of population pyramids for the UK from 1971 to 2085 (projected)

http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc1/UKPyramid.html

Answers:

- Why are we currently experiencing a baby boom in the UK?

There are two main reasons for this:

Have a look at the amount ofwomen in their early 30s – there are quite a lot (due to the baby boom of the 1980s) – with women tending to have babies at this age, there is a high birth rate currently.

The second reason is that in the UK we have a net migration gain (more immigrants than emigrants). Immigrant families tend to have a higher fertility rate, hence the higher birth rate.

- What impact would this have on our dependency ratio?

It will increase our dependency ratio in the short term as there will be more young dependents (0-15 year olds). There will be more pressure on the active (16-64 year olds) to pay tax to cover the extra burden on maternity care and the NHS.

- What influence would this have on our ageing population?

As a percentage there will be less elderly, therefore this may help to ‘solve’ the issues we have with our ageing population.

- Would this make us move into stage 5 of the DTM (demographic transition model) or keep us in stage 4?

We will stay in stage 4 as birth rates will exceed death rates so there will be a natural increase of the population. Stage 5 would not occur as this is when natural decrease occurs (death rate exceeds birth rate).

- What impact is this ‘baby boom’ having on our NHS?

There are too few staff to cope with the rising demand for maternity and midwife services. There is pressure on the NHS – extra funding will need to be found by the government to fund this public service.

- It seems to show that we are entering a baby boom – like the WW2 baby boom – have a look at those on the population pyramid who are 61-65 years old (i.e. born in
the years after WW2) Can you spot two other baby booms that the UK has had? What years were they born in?

See the population pyramid below to show where the baby booms can be seen and the years these people were born in.