Introduction. Social Trends 41. Edition No: Social Trends 41 Editor: Jen Beaumont. Office for National Statistics

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1 Introduction 2011 Edition No: Social Trends 41 Editor: Jen Beaumont Social Trends 41

2 Introduction Social Trends 41 ISSN A National Statistics publication National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. They are produced free from political influence. Not all of the statistics contained in this publication are National Statistics because it is a compilation from various data sources. About us Copyright and reproduction The The (ONS) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to Parliament. ONS is the UK government s single largest statistical producer. It compiles information about the UK s society and economy, and provides the evidence-base for policy and decision-making, the allocation of resources, and public accountability. The Director- General of ONS reports directly to the National Statistician who is the Authority's Chief Executive and the Head of the Government Statistical Service. Crown copyright 2011 You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, go to: or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to: info@statistics.gsi.gov.uk This publication is available for download at: The Government Statistical Service The Government Statistical Service (GSS) is a network of professional statisticians and their staff operating both within the and across more than 30 other government departments and agencies. Contacts This publication For information about the content of this publication, contact Jen Beaumont Tel: jen.beaumont@ons.gsi.gov.uk Other customer enquiries ONS Customer Contact Centre Tel: International: +44 (0) Minicom: info@statistics.gsi.gov.uk Fax: Post: Room 1.101, Government Buildings, Cardiff Road, Newport, South Wales NP10 8XG Media enquiries Tel: press.office@ons.gsi.gov.uk

3 Introduction In the editorial for the first edition of Social Trends in 1970 Muriel Nissel explained the new publication as follows: The growing realisation in Parliament, the Press and elsewhere that economic progress must be measured, in part at least, in terms of social benefits makes it the more important that the available key figures about our society should be readily accessible.. There is, of course already a wealth of information in the separate statistical publications of the various government departments. Social Trends sets out to bring together from these widespread sources a set of comprehensive, and at the same time, selective statistics designed to highlight the most important aspects of social conditions in the United Kingdom. In an introductory chapter to the same edition, Professor (now Lord) Claus Moser, then the head of the Government Statistical Service, confirmed that the aim was to bring together a number of significant statistical series relating to social policies and conditions [so that] the combination and confrontation of tables bearing on different aspects of social life may produce a more rounded picture of the social scene. If it is successful then Social Trends will help public understanding and discussion of social policy. Since then, Social Trends has continued to try to fulfil these aims and, indeed, to interpret them as widely as possible. In particular, statistics about the environment are included along with social and economic statistics, reflecting increased interest in how all three are inter-related. There is now an programme to deliver accepted and trusted National Statistics to help understanding of national well-being, which is how we now describe the rounded picture of how the UK is doing envisioned by the founders of Social Trends. Social Trends will evolve as we report on national well-being and identify new requirements for coverage and presentation of these statistics. In 2010 the fortieth edition of Social Trends was published; the last to be made available by the in printed format as the office became a web-only publisher. It looked back at the historical data and described the social scene in the each of the decades during which Social Trends has been published. For Social Trends 41 we have used an entirely web-based format and this has meant some changes in what we have reported and how it is presented. The rest of this chapter gives more information about what has been included and summarises it into some emerging themes. Jen Beaumont Editor, Social Trends, August

4 Contributors and acknowledgements The editor would like to thank colleagues in contributing Departments and other organisations for their generous support and helpful comments, without which this edition of Social Trends would not have been possible. Editor: Authors: Jen Beaumont Grace Anyaegbu Louise Barnes Jen Beaumont Sonia Carrera Louise Clarke Anna Donabie Ian Macrory Chris Randall Carla Seddon Alison Spence David Sweet Allan Baird Production Managers: Anna Donabie Carla Seddon Production Team: Ann Corp Tony James Rittah Njeru Tammy Powell Karen Whittaker Lead reviewers: Paul Allin Stephen Hicks 2

5 Overview Social Trends provides a unique overview of the state of the nation. In this year s edition, there are new chapters on international comparisons and e-society. In this overview the updated statistics in each of the chapters have been grouped under four major themes, showing that in the United Kingdom the population is ageing, more digitally orientated, affected by the recent recession and concerned with well-being. An ageing population living in smaller households The Population chapter examines the long and short term changes in the population of the UK. The population continued to grow with an estimated 61.8 million people resident in 2009, an increase of 23.6 million since the start of the twentieth century. For every 1,000 residents, births and deaths added 3.5 people and net migration and other changes 2.9 people between 2008 and Natural change ( ) was greater in the UK than the European average (EU-27) but migration was similar to the European average (EU-27) from a higher base of foreign citizens in the UK. Overall, in the second half of the twentieth century, growth in the UK population was slower than across the world (see International Comparisons chapter). Provisional conception rates in 2009 for England and Wales increased from 2008, most markedly to women aged 30 and over whilst the number of conceptions resulting in legal abortions decreased in all age groups during the same period (see Households and families chapter). Improvements to medical treatments, housing and living standards have resulted in an increase over time in the proportion of the population in older age groups. It is projected that by 2018 the number of UK residents aged 65 and over will be larger than the number aged under 16. The estimated number of UK residents aged 90 and over increased by 12 per cent from 388,200 in 2002 to 436,500 in The health of the population has improved considerably since the start of the twentieth century and the Health chapter analyses these changes. The chapter highlights increases in life expectancy at birth in the UK to 77.6 years for males and 81.7 years for females in 2008 coupled with the lowest recorded levels of infant and neonatal mortality rates since Total spending on health as a percentage of GDP in the UK was the second lowest of the G7 countries but the UK had the highest proportion from public sources. Public satisfaction with healthcare in the UK was markedly above the European average (see International Comparisons chapter). There has been a fall in mortality rates in the UK compared with Cancer is now the most common cause of death with rates of 2,081 per million males and 1,497 per million females in The death rates for cancer in 2007 for men, however, were below the EU average, for the 25 countries for which data are available, and above the EU average for women (see International Comparisons chapter). The Health chapter highlights incidence and mortality rates of specific cancers in the UK and improvements in five-year age-standardised survival rates in England since the early 1970s. The chapter also describes excess winter mortality trends in Great Britain over the 3

6 last 60 years and how the recent Swine Flu epidemic impacted on GP consultations across the UK. The Social Protection chapter shows that in 2009/10, 183 million hours of home care was provided by local authorities in England to households compared with just over 151 million hours in 2003/04, an increase of 21 per cent. In 2003/04 the independent sector provided 68 per cent of home care, by 2009/10 this had increased to 84 per cent. In England during 2009/10 nearly 1.7 million adults received caring services: of these almost 1.5 million received community-based services. The largest users of services, around two-thirds of the total, were the 1.1 million clients aged 65 and over. As the population has increased and aged, the number of households has also grown as shown in the Households and families chapter. There were an estimated 25.3 million households in 2010, an increase of 1.4 million from The number of dwellings in Great Britain reached 26.2 million in 2008 (see Housing chapter). Average household size reduced from 3.1 people in 1961 to 2.4 people in 2010 as the number of households increased faster than population. The decrease in household size was caused by the combination of a rise in the number of people living alone, a reduction in the proportion of families with children and a decrease in the number of children within those families. Digital Lifestyles The e-society chapter shows how new technology plays a crucial part in daily life for most people. In 2010, 73 per cent of households in the UK had Internet access and, in 2009, 63 per cent had broadband Internet access. The most common use of the Internet was to send or receive s. The increased popularity of modern technologies has changed the way we communicate with each other, such as video calls via webcams, social networking sites and telephone calls over the Internet. Also 27 per cent of children aged 5 to 15 who owned a mobile phone in 2009 first acquired one by the time they were eight years old. The way in which transactions are carried out in the UK has also changed dramatically over the last decade with an increase in the use of electronic payment methods leading to a decline in the use of cheques. There were 1.8 billion transactions by cheque in 1985 compared with 0.6 billion in 2009 (see Expenditure chapter). The Lifestyles and social participation chapter also discusses use of technology. In 2009/10, UK adults aged 16 and over spent an average of 3.5 hours a day watching television, 2.5 hours using a computer and 1 hour listening to the radio. Also, almost all single music tracks (98 per cent) were purchased digitally in The chapter also shows that holiday visits abroad by UK residents decreased by 15 per cent from 45.5 million visits in 2008 to 38.5 million in 2009, whilst domestic tourism grew by 12 per cent from 75 million trips within the UK in 2008 to 84 million in This change coincided with the recent recession. Recession The International Comparisons chapter places the UK in an international context and, by analysing GDP data, suggests that the UK had followed the US into recession in 2008 ahead of the 4

7 European Union (EU-27) and that growth between 2000 and 2009 was lower in the UK than the European average. Recessions in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the recent recession in have had different effects on the labour market in the UK and the Labour market chapter discusses these in some detail. During and after the recession unemployment rates were lower than earlier recessions having increased from 5.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 to a peak of 8.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 and falling slightly to 7.7 per cent in the first quarter of While there was a decrease in employment as a result of the recession, the effect has not been equal across types of employment: there was a decrease in full-time and an increase in parttime employment. The impact of unemployment rates during the most recent recession has been different for men and women. For men the unemployment rate increased from a pre-recession level of 5.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 to a high of 9.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2010 before falling again to 8.4 per cent in the first quarter of The unemployment rate for women rose from 4.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 to 7.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2010, falling slightly to 7.0 per cent in the first quarter of The labour market is a key part of the economy and long-term trends have major implications not only for the economy but also society more generally. Some of the changes in the UK labour market over recent decades include: growth in the size of the labour force as the population has increased, an increase in the proportion of women in the labour market and a reduction in the size of the manufacturing sector. The employment rate for women increased from 53 per cent in the second quarter of 1971 to 66 per cent in the first quarter of In the first quarter of 1979, 26.1 per cent of jobs were in the Manufacturing industry; by the first quarter of 2010 this proportion had fallen to 8.9 per cent, a fall of 17.2 percentage points. These longer term trends have continued through the recessions. The Income and wealth chapter shows that GDP per head decreased by 5.5 per cent during the recent period of recession (2008 to 2009) while real household disposable income per head increased by 1.2 per cent. The chapter also analyses the long and short-term trends in economic circumstances and income distribution. The main source of household income in the UK (73 per cent) from 2006/07 to 2008/09 was derived from wages, salaries and self-employed earnings. Household net wealth in real terms in 2009 was more than double net wealth in Changes in house prices and mortgage availability during the most recent recession are considered in the Housing chapter. Thirty seven per cent of households in Great Britain were buying their homes with a mortgage in 2009 with the average price paid for a dwelling in the UK being 194,235, a decrease of 8.1 per cent since The decline in house prices was accompanied by reduced mortgage availability and stricter lending criteria. In the last 12 years the seasonally adjusted number of loans approved for house purchase in the UK peaked in March 2002 at 92,912 but by November 2008 approvals fell to a low of 17,421. Some of the effects of the economic recession in the UK can also be seen in the Expenditure chapter. The number of individual insolvencies in England and Wales was 34,743 in the second quarter of 2010, of which 14,982 were bankruptcies. Between 1997 and 2009 total household debt 5

8 in the UK as a percentage of household disposable income, rose from 103 per cent to 161 per cent slightly lower than the peak of 173 per cent in In 2009 the volume of consumption of goods and services by UK households was more than two-and-a-half times the consumption in 1971 ( 810 million compared with 312 million at 2006 prices). Averaged over the period , the total average weekly household expenditure in the UK was ; London had the highest average weekly household expenditure at while the North East had the lowest at There have also been changes in the way in which households allocate expenditure between different goods and services. The Social Protection chapter shows that social security benefit expenditure in the UK increased by 128 per cent from 72 billion in 1979/80 to 165 billion in 2009/10, after allowing for inflation. In 1981/82 and in 1991/92 the annual increase in social security benefits expenditure was 10 per cent, reflecting increases in the number of people who were unemployed or economically inactive during the economic recessions in the early 1980s and 1990s. Between 2008/09 and 2009/10, at the time of the most recent recession, social security benefits expenditure increased by more than 7 per cent. In the Transport chapter we find that trips made by car remained the most popular form of transport in Great Britain for all households in UK petrol and diesel prices reached an all time high in January The number of licensed cars on Britain s roads has continued to increase, reaching over 28 million in 2009 (12 per cent increase from 2001). However, the number of new registrations of cars fell by 24 per cent between 2001 and Also, between 2008 and 2009 total domestic freight lifted within Great Britain decreased by 15 per cent, most likely due to the recession. Sea freight at UK ports decreased by 10.9 per cent over the same period and freight handled at UK airports fell by 10 per cent. Well-being As part of the ONS programme of work to measure National Well-being, a national debate was undertaken to ascertain what matters to people and what influences their well-being. The responses during the national debate showed that individuals felt health, good connections with friends and family, job satisfaction, education, personal security, the environment, access to green spaces and equality mattered to the well-being of the nation. The Health chapter shows that we are feeling healthier and remaining healthy and disability free for longer. Life expectancy at birth is 1.6 years longer than the European average for men but 0.3 years less for women; healthy life expectancy at 65 is higher than the EU-27 average for both (see International Comparisons chapter). The Health chapter also reports that regular smoking prevalence in Great Britain had fallen to 22 per cent of men and 20 per cent of women in In Great Britain, the proportion of men drinking more than the daily recommended guidelines had fallen over the last decade (39 per cent in 2000/01 to 37 per cent in 2009), while the proportion of women had risen from 23 per cent to 29 per cent over the same period. Physical activity levels in Great Britain also decreased with age while prevalence of obesity in Great Britain peaked among both sexes between the ages of 65 and 74 at 81 per cent of males and 74 per cent of females. This is corroborated by the Lifestyles and social participation chapter, which shows that the proportion of adults aged 16 and over in England who participated in active sport for at least 30 6

9 minutes, in the 4 weeks prior to interview in 2009/10, decreased with age from 75 per cent of those aged 16 to 24 to 18 per cent of those aged 75 and over. For UK adults who did not practice sport in 2009, 40 per cent stated a lack of time as their main reason. The Lifestyles and social participation chapter also notes that the number of adults aged 16 and over volunteering informally at least once a month in England fell from 35 per cent in 2008/09 to 29 per cent in 2009/10. The Households and families chapter examines connections within families and found that the number of people living alone in the UK increased from 7.0 million to 7.5 million between 2001 and 2010 while an estimated 50.8 million people were living in families, an increase from 48.8 million in The number of divorces in England and Wales continued a downward trend with a 6.4 per cent decrease between 2008 and The Transport chapter showed that according to the National Travel Survey on average each person made nearly 160 trips per year to visit friends from 2007 to The Labour market chapter refers to the link researchers have found between people s satisfaction with their job and their satisfaction with life overall and the lasting negative impact on people s well-being unemployment can have. The Education and training chapter shows that UK public expenditure on education and training doubled in real terms over the last 24 years, from 43 billion in 1987/88 to a planned spend of 87 billion in 2010/11. A new item on the value of human capital stock shows the value of human capital stock in 2009 ( 16,700 billion) was three times the value of the physical assets of the UK. While many young people are choosing to enter further education and higher education, others opt to work and study at the same time through apprenticeships. Between 2008/09 and 2009/10 the number of apprenticeships started in England increased by 17 per cent from 239,900 to 279,700. In 2008/09 there were approximately 2.6 million students in Higher Education in the UK; nearly 6 in 10 were women. In 2009/10, 4.6 million adult learners in England participated in some form of government-funded further education, a decrease of 4.5 per cent compared with 2008/09. The chapter also discusses changes in the types of school in the UK and appeals against nonadmission. Crime remains a key concern in the UK and a higher proportion of UK prisoners were guilty of violent offences than in most other EU countries (see International Comparison chapter). The Crime and Justice chapter discusses crimes recorded by the police in the United Kingdom. It also reports on crime levels, types of offence, victims of crime and how residents of England and Wales perceive changes in levels of crime both nationally and locally using information from the British Crime Survey. In England and Wales in 2009/10, a majority of adults aged 16 and over believed that crime was not going up at the local level, while a majority believed that it was increasing at the national level. However, in 2009/10 in England and Wales, estimated crime levels were at their historically lowest level since the British Crime Survey began in There was also a fall of 8 per cent in crimes recorded by the police across the UK from 5.2 million offences in 2008/09 to 4.8 million in 2009/10. 7

10 The chapter also discusses statistics on offenders, prisons, sentencing and the police. In 2010 in England and Wales, the total number of offenders found guilty of or cautioned for indictable offences had increased by 0.8 per cent for males and decreased by 8.0 per cent for females when compared with This chapter also discusses Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND), Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and the numbers sentenced to life imprisonment in England and Wales. In 2009/10 in England and Wales, police funding in real terms was at its highest recorded level of 12.6 billion, 44 per cent higher than 1995/96 when it was 8.8 billion. According to the Environment chapter, when adults aged 16 and over in England in 2009 were asked which areas the government should address, the environment was considered the third most important issue after the economy and unemployment. Being environmentally-friendly in most or everything they did was reported by around a third (32 per cent) of adults in England. An example of an environmentally friendly task is recycling waste. In 2009/10, 40 per cent of household waste per person in England was composted or reused compared with less than 1 per cent in 1983/84. In 2011 feeling proud of people s local environment was important to over 8 in 10 (85 per cent) of adults in England and over 6 in 10 (63 per cent) reported that it was very important to have public gardens, commons and other green space nearby. The Environment chapter also covers energy, pollution, climate change, environmental taxes, countryside and wildlife. Income inequality is discussed in the Income and Wealth chapter where it is reported that 18 per cent of individuals in the UK lived in households where the income was below 244 per week (60 per cent of the UK median) in 2008/09. 8