Summarise the major current demographic trends in any one country with Assignment

Summarise the major current demographic trends in any one country with which you are familiar.Explain what the likely long-term - Assignment Example This upward trend in the UK’s population represents reversal of the position in the 1970s and 1980s, when, due to substantial emigration and low birth rates, there were negative swings in population. The rise in birth rate after 2004 is attributed to women born overseas who generally bear more number of children than their native counterparts. The higher birth rate has also led to the increase in the average age of the population. During 1851, 7 per cent of the population was aged above 60. This increased to 9 per cent and 16 per cent by 1901 and 1951 respectively, and to 21 per cent as per the 2001 census. Moreover, it has been estimated that there will be 16.8 million people above 65 years of age in the UK by 2050. There is a local dimension to the population spread. On average the population of England is expected to increase by 7% between 2010 and 2020 but according to projections from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), some areas are expected to record a decrease. Of the 20 local authority areas for which fastest growth is projected, Norwich is the furthest north (Local Government Association report, 2010). In the UK, 80 per cent of people live in the urban areas, and population density varies hugely across the country. It is highest in inner London, and lowest in the Scottish highlands. Within the UK again, there is fair amount of migration taking place. Between the 1930s and 2001 the major trend was a movement of people from the north of the country to the south. The southern regions gained 30,000 people a year on average during this period. Since 2001 there has been an apparent reversal of this long term trend, the north gaining 35,000 people per year at the expense of the south. Due to such trends, the populations of Scotland and Wales are falling. In both countries there are considerably more deaths than births each year and relatively high levels of net-emigration. The UK is also dealing with the issue of ever-increasing immigration. In terestingly, throughout the 1970s as well as during early 1980s, there was more migration from the UK to elsewhere in the world than immigration to it. From 1993, this trend reversed and there was a huge gap between people migrating from the UK and those migrating to the UK. This gap kept widening till 2008, after which it has slowly begun to narrow. Such demographic changes have had direct impact on the country’s welfare policies. As the size of the population is getting bigger who avail the welfare schemes than those who contribute for them there is a potential threat to social security, although this is yet not apparent. Demography is pivotal to framing and execution of social policy because of its close relationship to need, and in turn, demand upon the welfare state (Vickerstaff, Manning, and Baldock, 2007). Also, the demand for new housing and related development as a result of demographic change is increasingly posing threat to environmental issues in some parts of the country, and in order to tackle this, the economy is further being strained (UK report, 2011). On the other hand, demographic changes pose challenges for the economy and public finances in the long term, as the increase in dependents is greater than the increase in working-age population. The main driver of this change is the ageing of population (Financial Statement and