Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Acknowledgements
- List of acronyms
- Part 1 Setting the scene
- Part 2 Benefits for unemployed people
- Part 3 Benefits for disabled people
- Part 4 Benefits for children and families
- Part 5 Benefits for retirement
- Part 6 Towards a welfare class?
- References and further reading
- Index
16 - Aspects of the demography of family life
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Acknowledgements
- List of acronyms
- Part 1 Setting the scene
- Part 2 Benefits for unemployed people
- Part 3 Benefits for disabled people
- Part 4 Benefits for children and families
- Part 5 Benefits for retirement
- Part 6 Towards a welfare class?
- References and further reading
- Index
Summary
Summary
The number of marriages fell from 370,000 in 1971 to 182,000 in 1997, and the number of people cohabiting increased to comprise 7% of all heterosexual couples.
The divorce rate in England and Wales increased by 42% over the slightly shorter period 1973 to 1997, and the evidence is that cohabiting unions are more short-lived than marital ones.
The birth rate fell, but the proportion of births that occurred out of wedlock increased from 8% to 38% between 1971 and 1998; many such births were to cohabiting couples.
The number of lone parent families tripled to 1.7 million between 1971 and 1998. The proportion caused by widowhood and separation declined, while those due to divorce, the breakdown of cohabitation or a non-resident relationship increased.
The number of lone parents receiving Income Support increased from 213,000 in 1971 to 972,000 in 1998, and demographic changes conspired to exacerbate the prevalence of child poverty.
The period since 1971 has witnessed radical changes in family demographics, some of which, such as later childbirth and falling fertility, are continuations of long established trends. Others, for example increased divorce and the rapid growth in the number of lone parent households, are more recent phenomena. The net result of these changes is that Britain in 1998 was characterised by fewer first marriages, higher rates of divorce, more cohabitation, more lone parents and smaller families than was the case in 1971. The decline in family size will have exerted a downward pressure on claimant caseloads, but it is the increased instability of relationships and the consequent upward trend in lone parenthood that has most influenced the level of benefit receipt. Not only have the numbers of lone parents receiving benefit increased but, so too, has the proportion reliant on means-tested support. In 1971 there were only about 570,000 lone parents, of whom 37% were receiving means-tested Supplementary Benefit. By 1998 the number had grown to 1.7 million and of these, 972,000, 58%, claimed the corresponding benefit, Income Support.
This chapter is divided into four parts. The first part describes the decline of marriage and the growth in cohabitation, the second charts the consequent rise of lone parenthood and the third documents the fall in family size.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Making of a Welfare Class?Benefit Receipt in Britain, pp. 195 - 204Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2000