Population Processes in High Income Countries

Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the main recent patterns and trends in demographic processes in the developed world (Europe, North America and other industrialised countries)
• Reading critically, analysing and summarising literature.
• Comment upon the policy implications of recent demographic trends in high income countries and on the feasibility of various policy responses to demographic challenges
• Describe future population prospects in high income countries.
• Discussing alternative viewpoints in written work and in seminars.
• Critically evaluate the merits of differing potential explanations for the observed demographic patterns and trends
• Self-management by combining your learning in lectures, presentation and discussion and independent study.
• Presenting and evaluating findings, explanations and theoretical perspectives through written work, discussion in seminars, and group presentation.

The course investigates demographic processes in the UK and other developed countries. We examine the explanations offered for recent changes along with their current and future consequences.

The module covers a range of topics including: Transition to adulthood; Fertility decline; Family change; Population ageing; Health inequalities; Gender differences in mortality; International and internal migration patterns.

Most of the reading for this module is in the form of research papers published in journals. For seminars, we also make use of video interviews and documentaries.

Key questions that the module will address: - What implications do the changes in life expectancy observed in the UK in the past decades have for policy?

• How are statistics on international migration and asylum seekers collected in the UK?
• How have the economic prospects of young people changed today as compared to the past?
• Why has non-marital cohabitation increased in Europe over the past decades?
• Why do women in developed countries tend to live longer than men?
• Why is fertility higher in Scandinavian countries than in Mediterranean countries?

The course will be taught via lectures, seminars, group work, and independent study.

You will be asked to do specific tasks in preparation for the seminars, e.g. reading a journal article or analysing demographic trends.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.