Demographic change and the family Cambridge IGCSE Sociology revision
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In plain words
Your great-grandmother may have been one of nine children. You are probably one of two or three. In between, something happened to families almost everywhere in the world, and it changed who lives with whom and who looks after whom.
9 things to know
- Demography is the study of population. Changes in births, deaths and ages change the shape of families.
- Family size has fallen in most societies. The birth rate is the number of live births for every 1000 people in a year, and it has dropped.
- Reasons for smaller families: contraception is available, women are educated and have careers, children cost money and no longer earn it, and fewer babies die, so parents do not need to have extra children.
- Life expectancy, the average age to which people live, has risen with better food, healthcare and living conditions.
- The result is an ageing population, in which a growing share of people are old. Families have more living grandparents and great-grandparents, and more old relatives who need care.
- Having children in later life: many women now have their first child in their thirties, after education and establishing a career. Families are smaller, and parents are older.
- Industrialisation is the change from an economy based on farming to one based on factories. Urbanisation is the movement of people from the countryside to towns and cities.
- One view is that these changes replaced the extended family, which worked the land together, with the smaller nuclear family, which could move to the towns for work. Historians have found that the story is not that simple, and that relatives often stayed close in the new towns to help each other.
- Work moved out of the home, and children went from being workers to being dependants at school.
Worked example
In a country, life expectancy rises from 55 to 80 and the average number of children per woman falls from 6 to 2. Describe the effect on family structure.
- People live long enough for three or four generations to be alive at once.
- With only two children in each generation, there are few brothers, sisters and cousins.
- The family becomes long and thin: a beanpole family.
- More grandparents are available to help with childcare, and more old people need care.
Tips and tricks
- Fewer births and longer lives together give the beanpole family. Examiners like to see that link made.
- For "why are families smaller", give reasons of different kinds: economic (the cost of children), social (women's careers) and medical (contraception, and fewer infant deaths).
It lands in your notebook with its questions as flashcards.
Demographic change and the family: 5 questions and answers
These are the quiz’s questions. Do the quiz first, then come back here for the ones that got you.
What is the birth rate?
It is a measure for a whole population.
What is life expectancy?
It has risen in most societies.
Which is a reason for falling family size?
Women delay and limit having children.
What is urbanisation?
People moved to where the factory work was.
How does an ageing population affect family roles?Stretch
Care is needed at both ends of the family.
Quiz
5 questions
Tap an answer and you’ll see straight away whether it’s right, and why.
Worksheet
3 questions, 10 marks. Write your answers on paper, then check them.
Demographic change and the family
Cambridge IGCSE Sociology 0495 · 10 marks · papermunch.org
Name ______________________________ Date ______________
What is meant by the term "ageing population"?[2]
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A population in which the proportion of older people is increasing.
Explain two reasons why family size has fallen.[4]
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Any two, each explained: contraception lets couples choose how many children to have; women have careers and delay or limit having children; children are expensive and stay dependent for longer; fewer infants die, so there is no need to have many children.
Explain how industrialisation and urbanisation changed family life.[4]
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People moved from farming in the countryside to factory work in towns. Smaller nuclear families could move more easily for work. Work was separated from the home, and children went to school, becoming dependants and no longer workers.
Answers: Demographic change and the family
- 1. A population in which the proportion of older people is increasing.
- 2. Any two, each explained: contraception lets couples choose how many children to have; women have careers and delay or limit having children; children are expensive and stay dependent for longer; fewer infants die, so there is no need to have many children.
- 3. People moved from farming in the countryside to factory work in towns. Smaller nuclear families could move more easily for work. Work was separated from the home, and children went to school, becoming dependants and no longer workers.