A Country's Demographic Trend - Assignment Example

?Summarise the major current demographic trends in any one country with which you are familiar.Explain what the likely long-term implication of thesetrends will be for employing organizations A country’s demographic trend is very crucial to how the country progresses, how its economy performs and to what extent it can provide for the social security of all its citizens. In the UK, population explosion has been assessed as a critical concern for the government. Due to the duel issues of a higher birth rate compared to death rate (the UK gains 85,000 people every year) and rampant immigration (about 150,000 people per annum migrate to the UK), the population is ever increasing and currently stands at 62 million. 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. Interestingly, 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 Budget report, 2009). The UK’s old age dependency ratio is currently 27 per cent. This means there are just over 3 people of working age per person of state pension age. It is expected to be 50 per cent by 2050. Demographic changes have had grave implications in employment as well. Older people, for example, do not spend much of their income on entertainment and alcoholic drinks than younger people, but more on healthcare products and domestic fuel. Such consumption and buying trends have far reaching impact in determining the future of many industries. Products, services and brands are then designed to meet the needs and preferences of specific groups, and marketing campaigns targeted accordingly. Advertisers are prone to target younger people with disposable income - so TV programmes, movies and magazines tend to aim their offerings at that audience. This occurs because as we get older we tend to develop strong brand loyalties and become less likely to switch from products that we had been using. Changing demographics has made it compulsory for marketers to device new strategies that are based on attitudes rather than age. Now that there is skills shortages and a steep decline in the number of younger people looking for work, employers will be forced to look to other labour markets in order to recruit and retain the people they require. This will include three distinct groups, who have not usually been in the dream-list of recruiters: (i) people over the age of fifty who are working, (ii) people who have taken early retirement / redundancy, (iii) people who are over the state retirement age. Another outcome from an ageing population will be the presence among younger employees of more people with responsibility for caring for. Aside from flexibility, the other major element that will be responsible for attracting and retaining older people is a culture which fully respects and values their contribution. It will be necessary, for example, to tailor reward packages to suit the needs of older workers as well as younger ones. On the whole, an ageing population in the UK poses many threats to its social security and employment concerns, but this can also be tackled by way of pragmatism and a thorough re-planning in the finance and relative industries. However, still better would be to check the population explosion, and that definitely needs to balance birth rates and death rates, as well as the ratio between emigration and immigration. Reference Baldock, John; Manning, Nick, and, Vickerstaff, Sarah, 2007. Social Policy: Oxford University Press, p. 132. Print. Building Britain’s future, 2009. ‘Financial Statement and Budget Report.’ Print. ‘Demographic trends and consumption patterns are threatening the UK environment’, February 2011. [http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/1102/11022201] Local Government Association, August, 2010. ‘Future Demographic Trends in England.’ Print. Read More