Social inequalities in later life: the socio-economic position of older people from ethnic minority groups in Britain

There are now nearly a quarter of a million individuals aged 60 years or over belonging to ethnic minority groups living in Britain. As the ethnic minority groups in Britain continue to age, information regarding their circumstances in later life will be of increasing importance for the development of appropriate services and policy. This article uses data from the General Household Survey (1991-96) to investigate the household living arrangements, lifestyle, socio-economic status, economic resources and experience of multiple deprivation in later life amongst older people from ethnic minority groups in Britain. The findings indicate that there are significant differences both between and within ethnic minority groups in access to material and social resources, which need to be taken into account by policy makers and planners.     

The ethnic minority populations of Great Britain--latest estimates

This article looks at the latest estimates of the ethnic minority populations living in private households in Great Britain. It also highlights differences between the various ethnic groups in relation to geographical distribution, sex and age structure, people living alone and people born in the UK.     

One-parent families--and the dependent children living in them--in Great Britain

This article provides updated final estimates of the number of one-parent families, and of the number of dependent children living in them, from 1995 to 1997, inclusive, together with provisional estimates for 1998 to 2000. The existing methodology has been extended so that additional alternative estimates have been generated from which to assess the "best estimates". The number of one-parent families in Great Britain is provisionally estimated at 1.75 million in 2000, and the number of deppendent children living in those families as 2.9 million.     

The sizes and characteristics of the minority ethnic populations of Great Britain--latest estimates

This article presents estimates of the minority ethnic populations of Great Britain in 2000 and describes the regional distributions of the different groups. It also discusses changes in the sizes of the different minority ethnic populations during the 1990s. The paper provides information on some key demographic features of these populations at the end of the 1990s--age and sex structures, proportions born in the United Kingdom and whether children lived with their natural parents.     

First births by age and education in Britain, France and Norway

Progressively later starting of childbearing has been a feature of cohort change in fertility across Europe and elsewhere over recent decades. Growing differences in the age patterns of childbearing between the Anglo-American and continental European countries, however, have also been found. The present study uses large linked-record databases in Britain, France and Norway to analyse these differences in more detail, focussing on age at entry to motherhood (first childbearing) by level of educational attainment among women born in the 1950s and in the 1960s. The shift between these two cohorts towards a later pattern of first childbearing in Britain was confined to women with secondary school qualifications and above. For women born in the 1960s, the peak age for risk of first childbearing among those with secondary school qualifications grew to be between seven and eleven years later than among women without secondary school qualifications. In France and Norway, the peak ages for risk of first childbearing shifted more uniformly across education levels between the two cohorts. For these 1950s and 1960s cohorts, improvements in women's educational levels also occurred more uniformly in France and Norway, moving more women into education categories characterised by later patterns of first childbearing.     

基于可持续发展综合国力的生态系统服务评价研究——13个国家生态系统服务价值的测算

分析了生态系统服务的内涵 ,探讨了生态系统服务评价的意义 ,对比分析了生态系统服务评价的方法 ,最后测算了澳大利亚、巴西、英国、加拿大、中国、法国、德国、印度、意大利、日本、俄罗斯、南非、美国等 1 3个国家的生态系统服务价值.     

The decline of intensive intergenerational care of older people in Great Britain, 1985-1995

There are increasing concerns about the future availability of informal care for older people, particularly care by their children. This article explores past trends in the provision of informal care by children/children-in-law to their older parents/parents-in-law between 1985 and 1995 in Great Britain, using successive General Household Survey data. The article suggests that, during this period, there was a decline in co-resident intergenerational care and that this was associated with a decline in highly intensive intergenerational care. The article explores possible factors underlying these trends, in particular, demographic changes and changes in patterns of formal care for older people.     

我国6大境外客源市场旅游本底趋势线的建立

提出了旅游本底趋势线的概念,并依据1984年～1996年客流量统计数据,建立了日本、美国、英国、德国、法国和澳大利亚6大境外市场来华旅游的本底趋势线;利用本底线延伸的预测功能,预测了6大境外市场未来4年的变化趋势.     

Living arrangements among older people: an overview of trends in Europe and the USA

This article compares the trends in living arrangements of older people in several European countries and in the United States. Trends and cross-country variability in several factors that could account for these cross-national differences, including marital status, fertility, labour force participation and attitudes, are also examined. In most countries the proportion of older people living alone increased substantially between 1970 and 1990. However the increase in living alone stabilised or even declined between 1990 and 2000 in most of the countries analysed indicating a possible reversal in the trend. Increases in proportions of older women who are married and reductions in the proportions childless may partially explain this. Considerable variability in both trends and levels of older people's living arrangements was seen especially between north-western and southern European countries. These variations mirrored contrasts in attitudes towards residential care and parent-child coresidence between the countries.     

Civil partnerships five years on

The Civil Partnership Act 2004, which came into force in December 2005 allowing same-sex couples in the UK to register their relationship for the first time, celebrated its fifth anniversary in December 2010. This article examines civil partnership in England and Wales, five years on from its introduction. The characteristics of those forming civil partnerships between 2005 and 2010 including age, sex and previous marital/civil partnership status are examined. These are then compared with the characteristics of those marrying over the same period. Further comparisons are also made between civil partnership dissolutions and divorce. The article presents estimates of the number of people currently in civil partnerships and children of civil partners. Finally the article examines attitudes towards same-sex and civil partner couples both in the UK and in other countries across Europe.     

The Census Coverage Survey--the key element of a one number census

The key measure of census quality is the level of response achieved. In recent censuses worldwide this level has been in the high nineties per cent. This was also true of censuses in Britain in 1991 (98 per cent). However, what was particularly noticeable about the census in Britain in 1991 was the differential response rate and the difficulty in effectively measuring this. The One Number Census programme was set up in the UK to research and develop a more effective methodology to measure and account for underenumeration in the 2001 Census. The key element in this process is the Census Coverage Survey--a significantly larger and redesigned post-enumeration survey. This article describes the planning and design of the survey with particular emphasis on the implementation of the proposed field methodology in practice. It also provides a high-level overview of the success of the survey.     

Migration, Ethnicity and Privilege

Representation assumes that those who govern have knowledge of those for whom they govern. It is easy to presume knowledge of the “other”, but as we know this can be based in prejudice, cultural difference, or simply misinformation or simplification. Usually our explorations of this process have focused on populations identified as disadvantaged, disempowered or somehow “non-privileged”. However, the research process outlined here has revealed previously unexplored diversity within a population commonly described as privileged suggesting that good governance requires alertness to presuming to know both the unprivileged and the privileged. The research approach outlined in this paper has used a blend of historical reappraisal and qualitative techniques focusing on a population who have been conceptualized as doubly privileged. This population focus is that of older British; post World War II male migrants in South Australia. These people have been conceptualized as privileged because they are male, and they were part of the preferred ethnic group that Australian politicians and policy makers favoured post WW2. However, review of the historical data and qualitative interviews with some of these men show that the accepted narrative of a homogenous pre-WW2 British origin population is over simplistic. The historical research suggests that the presumption that post WW2 British migrant men were coming into an homogenous, privileging environment in migrating to SA is both ahistorical and crude. Furthermore the belief that post WW2 British migrant men were ethnically homogenous is undermined by the qualitative research, that reveals that their presumed homogeneity is much more fluid and nuanced than dominant conceptualisations have allowed. The impact of core ethnicities that continue to exist and compete in Britain, the social class focus and economic commodification of migrants in the machinations of powerful players in the state of South Australia all confound homogenizing, simplistic knowing of British migrant men in this state. Generically these findings caution social researchers with regard to presuming to know so called “privileged” populations as well as presumed non-privileged groups.     

Changing economic and social roles: the experience of four cohorts of mid-life individuals in Britain, 1985-2000

Men and women in Great Britain are increasingly involved in a variety of economic and social roles, particularly during their mid-life period. This article examines the changes in role occupancy across four birth cohorts passing throughout mid-life over the period 1985-2000. Data from the General Household Survey is used to investigate the occupancy of four key roles: 'partner', 'parent', 'carer' and 'paid worker', analyzing separate and multiple role occupancies and level of commitment to a particular role. The implications of the findings for health and employment policies is also discussed.     

Teenage births to ethnic minority women

This article analyses British age-specific fertility rates by ethnic group, with a special interest in child-bearing by women below the age of 20. Birth statistics are not analysed by ethnic group, and teenage birth rates have been estimated from the dates of birth of mothers and children in the Labour Force Survey. The method appears to be robust. Caribbean, Pakistani and especially Bangladeshi women were much more likely to have been teenage mothers than white women, but Indian women were below the national average. Teenage birth rates have been falling in all three South Asian communities.     

Which is the use of systems theory in literature analysis?: The discovery of the place in La Mancha in Don Quixote

The use of systems theory to attempt to determine which ''place in La Mancha'' was the one whose name Cervantes could not quite recall in his universal novel, appears to be ordained to change certain attitudes towards science held in Cervantine literature. The reason: after four centuries of literary analysis, systemic methodology has proven able to identify the famous ''place'' with acceptable accuracy. Nonetheless, certain reasonable doubts persist around the suitability of a strictly scientific analysis of literature. In light of those doubts, the present article aims primarily to facilitate critique both of the systemic approach adopted and its outcome.     

Family building intentions in England and Wales: trends,outcomes and interpretations

This article presents and analyses women's childbearing intentions collected in the General Household Survey (GHS). Data from the 21 surveys from 1979 to 2001 show that over that period there has been a fall in women's intended numbers of births. However the latest data (from the 1998, 2000 and 2001 surveys) show that the average number of children intended is still around two, somewhat higher than the average number of children current fertility rates suggest women will have. The questions of whether this difference can be interpreted as possible unmet need for children, whether past intentions have been good predictors of fertility, and how current intentions may be used to inform projections assumptions are discussed. In relation to the last question, fertility intentions by ethnic group are also presented.     

Simultaneous care for parents and care for children among mid-life British women and men

This article investigates care provided to parents and parents-in-law by mid-life adults with dependent children at home. Data from the General Household Survey are used first to estimate the prevalence of this 'two-way' care over the past decade, and second to develop forecasts of two-way care for a generation of women who have just finished their childbearing years. Having a higher education qualification is associated with later ages both of caring for parents and of having children at home. Increasingly late first childbearing, however, points towards a potentially greater caring 'squeeze' for higher-qualified women, with a little over 1 in 10 at age 45 projected to be caring for a parent while still having a child under 18 in the household.     

Mothers with living children and children with living mothers: the role of fertility and mortality in the period 1911-2050

Whether an individual has one or more surviving children at a given age and/or a surviving parent depends both on fertility (not only number of children, but also timing of childbearing) and mortality. We consider the contribution of changes in mortality and fertility to past and likely future trends on availability of such kin. The proportion of people aged 60 with a mother alive will more than double between those born in 1911 and 1970, and the figure will increase for at least the next 30 years. While there are increasing concerns about the availability of informal care for elderly people from children in the next quarter century or so, in fact we conclude that a higher proportion of elderly people are likely to have a surviving child than for any generation ever born in Britain, and will have more than any foreseeable future cohort.     

The 2011 Census: a proposed design for England and Wales

This article sets out the proposed design for a 2011 Census in England and Wales, as part of the ONS's proposed future population statistics system. The design draws on experiences from the 2001 Census and changes in available technology, and takes account of the many comments received from respondents to a Discussion Paper published in October 2003 and of views expressed at a joint ONS/RSS Conference on 11-12 November 2003. The article highlights the statistical and operational strategic aims for the 2011 Census, the major changes proposed from the 2001 approach, and gives an indication of the benefits and risks. It is important to note that this design remains a proposal at present, the elements of which will be subject to further research building on comments received during consultation and a detailed testing programme over the coming years.     

25 years of Population Trends

This article monitors some of the more significant demographic changes over the last twenty-five years, depicted in various issues of Population Trends. It is, of necessity, selective in coverage in terms of quotes, figures and topics. Other articles in this issue go into more depth on specific topics, such as families, ethnic minority groups, marriage and divorce, health inequalities and fertility and family planning. Consequently, there is some overlap and the articles could usefully be cross-referenced. Some coverage is also given to the development of sources, international events and selected partnerships outside the Office. Relevant legislation enacted over the period is also mentioned.