4. Density of population. Distribution

With over 59 million people the UK claims the 14^th place in the world as to its population. Since 1801 until 1991 censuses of the people of the UK has been taken regularly every 10 years (except 1941). In 1901 the British population was 38, 2 million, at the end of the 17^th century it was about 6, 5 million and only 2 million at the end of the 11^th century. The growth of the population was rapidly from the middle of the 18^th century to the end of the 19^th when the average number of live born children per married couple amounted to 6 – 7.

Britain has always been a densely populated country. According to the latest full census taken in 2003 the population density in Britain is 246 per sq km. Britain is the third in Europe (after the Netherlands) – 383 and Belgium – 325). The world extremes are: Hong Kong – 5436 people per sq. km and Botswana – 2 per sq. km. Though density in Great Britain is very high, the country is populated very unevenly. England is most thickly peopled part; its density is 361 per sq. km. The second is Wales – 142 per sq. km, then the Northern Ireland – 125 per sq. km. Scotland is one of the most sparsely populated areas in Europe. There one can motor for hours without seeing another person. The density per sq.km in Scotland is 65 people. Densities of more than 500 people are found in the main industrial areas (such as Midlands and south-east England), the density of Greater London being 4238 people per sq. km.

Britain is highly urbanized country, 90 per cent of its population lives in cities and towns, and only 10 per cent are rural inhabitants. There are 8 major metropolitan areas known as conurbations which accommodate a third of Great Britain’s people while comprising less than 3 per cent of the total land area. They are: Greater London, Central Clydeside, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, the West Midlands and West Yorkshire. Most of the mountainous part, including much of Scotland, wales and Northern Ireland and the central Pennies, are very sparsely populated.

As in many other developed countries the recent trend shows a movement of people away from the main conurbations (particular their centers) to the surroundings suburbs.

5. Social rates. Social make up

In 60s there was a marked tendency for earlier marriages: young people married in their late teens or early 20. The trend of the 60s towards earlier marriages was reversed at the beginning of the 70s. Since then there has been a slow increase in the average age for the first marriages, which in England and Wales is now just over 26 for men and 24 for women.

Britain has one of the highest divorce rates in Western Europe. The European average is 6, 9 per thousand. The divorce rate in Britain has been increasing steadily, about 167 700 divorces were grated in the UK in 2002, 2, 5 per cent more than in 2001. In 1988 it was 129 for every 1000 married couple in England and Wales, while in 1961 only 2. Nowadays one in almost every two marriages ends in divorce. The rates for Scotland and Northern Ireland are much lower.

The image of the traditional British household of the 50s with 3 – 4 children in a family has changed. Nowadays only 7% of British families consist of 5 or more people. The average British couple today has only 1, 8 children. 29% of the married couples have no children; 28% - have children; 29% - one member families (widows or divorced men), 10% - lone parent families with children. The great majority of single parents are women. There has also been a sharp rise in the rate of illegitimacy. More than 2/5 of all birth were babies born outside marriage – non-marital babies, compared with 12% in 1980.

Another feature of the present British family, common to many other Western European countries, has been a considerable increase in cohabitation. 18% of unmarried people aged between 16 – 59 are leaving with someone without being officially married.

In Britain you can get married in a church or in a registry office. But the proportion of the population who are married has decreased. In 1971 71% 0f men and 68% of women aged 16 and over in England and Wales were married; in 2002 this was 54% of men and 50% of women. Over the same period the proportion that were single or divorced increased, while the proportion of those who were widowed remained fairly constant. First marriages account 83% of all marriages in 1970 but for only 59% in 2002.

As in many other developed countries, the fertility rate (63 births per 1000 women of childbearing age) is low compared with past rates and it remains below the level required for the long-term replacement of the population. Such factors as later marriages, postponement of childbirth, effective contraception, voluntary sterilization of men and women has contributed to the relatively low birth rate.

Birth rate tendencies have brought noticeable changes in the age distribution. There is a marked decline in the proportion of young people under 16 and an increase in the proportion of elderly people, especially those aged 85 and over. Between 1971 and 2003 there was an 18% decrease in the number of children aged under16. In contrast there was 28% increase in the number of people aged 65 and over. Projections suggest that this aging trend continue. The British population is already one of the oldest in Europe, and it is slowly getting older.

Sex distribution is also different. There are nearly 106 female to every 100 males in average in Britain. Total births of boys naturally exceed those of girls by about 6%. But boy babies on an average are more delicate and difficult to rear than girls. So stillbirth and mortality rates at almost all ages are higher for males. Because of their higher mortality there is a turning point at about 50 years age, at which the number of women exceeds the number of men. The imbalance increases with age, among elderly over 70 years old there are 18 women to every 10 men. A rising standard of living and development in medical technology and practice have contributed large declines in mortality rates over the last 100 years. Death rates are higher for males than females in almost all age groups, but the gap between the sexes has narrowed in recent decades.