Flashcards
Demographic Change
Cards in this deck (23)
- 11951-64: health & life expectancy'Baby boom' > birth rates ran consistently ahead of death rates. Medical treatment improved under welfare state. Standards of nutrition & hygiene steadily improved
- 21951-64: inward migrationContinuing flow of arrivals from Irish Republic. Starting in 1948, about 250,000 New Commonwealth immigrants (esp. West Indies) settled in Britain - 75% were male, working to support families back home
- 31951-64: outward migrationAustralia was particularly keen to attract new citizens > offered assisted passages and help with jobs & housing. Steady flow of British emigrants to North America. In the 50s, 1.32 million Brits left (only nearly 700,000 immigrants came)
- 41951: how & where people livedDifference between town & country was much more sharply drawn. The countryside was still dominated by agriculture & rural areas were not yet faced by creeping urbanisation. Most people lived in communities with a strong sense of local identity, close to their extended families. All this was about to change due to various forms of social mobility (esp. mass car ownership)
- 51951: Britain's infrastructureRun-down and badly needed modernising. Desperate need for housing development to replace war damage & deal with the decay of the housing stock that had been neglected for the previous decade
- 61950s: housingFrom 1951, the Conservative gov. set the ambitious target of building 300,000 new homes every year. Local gov. spent millions on clearing pre-war slums & building new towns on green field sites, e.g. Harlow in Essex
- 71950s: the effect of population movementHollowing-out effect on inner cities. Established traditional communities broken up. In many cases, town centres found themselves separated from the suburbs by a belt of dereliction & neglect
- 81950s: mass private car ownershipGreat demand for new roads to be built, including the novelty of motorways (already in Germany & Italy but unknown in Britain). Car travel changed ideas of holidays & leisure. Commuting by car began to push housing development further outside towns & cities
- 91951-64: roadsConstruction of the M1 began in 1958. Between 1957 and 1963, 1,200 miles of new or upgraded main roads were completed. Roads were in, railways were out
- 101951-64: railwaysBritish Railways, nationalised in 1948, struggled vainly to modernise the rail system. The Beeching Report '63 recommended the closure of more than 30% of the rail network - roads were cheaper & more flexible. 100s of branch lines & 1000s of stations axed. 'Romantics' vs. 'Realists' - did the cuts go too far? Either way, caused fundamental social change - left many rural areas isolated
- 111951-75: increase in populationPopulation of Britain increased from 50 million to 56 million
- 121970s: population statisticsShowed no year-on-year increases; from 1975-78 the population actually began to fall. Fluctuations in the population reflect the economic & social background of the time
- 131964-75: immigrationContinued influx of immigrants from the New Commonwealth. Kenyan Asian crisis: in the first 2 months of 1968, 13,000 came to Britain (rushing ahead of the Commonwealth Immigration Act). Ugandan Asians: nearly 30,000 (out of 50,000) came in 1972, esp. to Leicester etc.
- 141964-75: shift of populationAccelerated shift to new housing developments & council estates that were replacing the old urban areas affected by slum clearance & urban redevelopment. The process had begun before '64 but its effects were most apparent in the late '60s and '70s
- 151964-75: impact of road transport & private car ownershipNew roads frequently had the effect of fragmenting established communities; and commuting by car accelerated the 'flight to the suburbs' & the spread of urban blight in the inner cities
- 161975-90: increase in populationPopulation increased from 56 million to 58 million. However, periods of stagnation > 1975-78 fall. Fluctuations reflected economic & social background of the time, e.g. more than 3 million unemployed for 5 years running in the '80s
- 171975-90: immigrationContinued to be a source of social concern. Steady flow of immigrants from the sub-continent. Sudden rush of immigrants from Bangladesh after its breakaway from Pakistan in '74. Asian population of Bradford reached nearly 50,000
- 181975-90: shift of populationContinued shift from rural to urban areas
- 191975-90: sharpening of the north-south divideOld traditional industries contracted, leaving behind large tracts of dereliction in the Midlands, the north, Scotland & South Wales. Employment in the manufacturing industry fell by 2 million. Long-term trends were shifting economic activity towards London & the south > population of Greater London rose by 600,000
- 201990-2007: immigrationSharp increases in asylum-seekers (Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq) & from new EU countries (e.g. Poland). Continued New Commonwealth immigration, 'bogus' asylum-seekers, relatives, students etc. By 2007, it had risen to the top of the public agenda (2001 polls showed 3% regarded it as a vital issue, 2007 polls showed 30%). Worries that Britain's population was growing too fast & that the country was 'full up'
- 211990-2007: health & life expectancyVast increase in life expectancy due to improvements in medical care & living standards. Those born in the 'baby boom' after '45 were reacher retirement age. Percentage of pop. over 80 had doubled in 20 yrs. Surge in demand for medical treatments, pensions became a major political issue, the 'grey pound', 'fuel poverty'
- 221990-2007: how people lived & where they shoppedRapid expansion in number & size of out-of-town shopping centres. Massive increase in 'single-occupiers'
- 231990-2007: where people livedEconomic factors > London & south-east grew rapidly: housing, transport & social services stretched. Urban decay in Scotland & parts of old industrial north. Govs. relocated deparments out of London & granted funds for regenerations > Glasgow, Birmingham & Leeds got new museums, art galleries, concert halls & property development. Didn't stop economic growth in London & south-east (e.g. 2008 Policy Exchange report suggesting people in northern cities should move to London)
Information
- Description
- A Levels History (Dates/evidence cards) Flashcards on Demographic Change, created by lizzie.lambrou on 26/05/2014.
- Created by
- lizzie.lambrou
- Views
- 25
- Rating