Births and deaths are the main aspects that determine a populations overall size. Untill the 1980, big changes had occurred in Britain, as a result of natural change, where tehre were more births than deaths in the UK. By 1801, Britian has a popuatlion of 10.5 million, a hundered year later in 1901, the population stood at 37 million. It is predicted that by 2031, the popultaion will reach a whooping 71 million. Let us examine the trends that have had an effect on the population growth.
Since the 1900, the birth has declined in number. The UK had a birth rate of 10.5. in the 20th century, there had been some fluctuations, as three baby boom had been created after the two world wars. During the 19th century, many men had come back from serving in wars, which contributed to the baby boom. Servicemen had come home to start a family with their partners as they had postponed during the war years. the third baby boom occurred in the 60s. The great depression of wars before the 1960s put a strain on people, couples were not able to afford being in a nuclear family. However in the 1960, couples were thinking postively, the economy grew vigorously til the 1970s. On the other hand the oil crisis in the 1973 ruined the economy for many, which created a fall in birth rate. In the 80s the birth rate increased around 650,000 to 800,000 , followed by a decrease in the 90th from 800,000 around 620.000 (see figure 2.3). The factors that determined the prior numbers are several. Firstly, the amount of women of a childbearing age, usually 15-44, and secondly how fertile they are, that is how many children they have. Since 2001, the total fertilitiy rate has risen. In 2001, the TFR was average out to 1.63 children perwoman. By 2006 1.86 children per women had been produced compared to those being produced in the 60s of 2.95. as you can see, the birth rate and fertility rate demonstrate the