Read the following passage about population trends. The type of word missing is given. Can you supply the word?

Today the most important population trends are the fast growth in the number of elderly people and the sharp drop in the number of teenagers leaving school. The size of the elderly population is

(1) ........ (verb) because people are living longer and (2) ........ (adjective) babies have been born.

In 1911, only 5 percent of the UK population was older than 6:>.

Today, the (3) ....... (noun) is more than 15 per cent. Over the next decade the greatest (4).................... (noun) will be in people aged 75 and over. The drop in the number of school-leavers was <¹⁵).................... (verb) by the fall in the birth rate (6) ........ (preposition) 1964 and 1977.

 

 

This trend is known (7) ......... (preposition) the «demographic time bomb» - because demographers knew that, once the birth rate fell, there was

(8) ......... (deter­miner) way to stop it (9) ......... (verb) an explosive effect on the economy and on society 16 years later.

However, the impact may (10) ....... (adverb) be short-term. According to some forecasters the UK's birth rate may soon become one of the highest in western Europe.

Companies have to (11) ........ (verb) into account the age of the population when they are deciding what goods to produce and when they are recruiting staff.

In Britain and most of Europe, the birth rate fell between the ear­ly 1960s and the mid 1970s. That (12) ....... (verb) that, by the second half of the 1980s, the number of teenagers leaving school and looking for jobs each year fell sharply. In 1986, there were 6.2 mil­lion people so (13) ......... (adjective) between 16 and 24 in the

labour force. The turn of the century, demonstrated that it

(14) ........ (verb) to 4.9 million. That means that companies

who generally recruited many of their staff (15) ....... (ad­verb) from school have to think of other ways of attracting workers.

At the other end of the age scale is the significant increase in the number of elderly people in the population. Over the (16) ......... (adjective) ten years, several companies have (17) ......... (verb) up which specialize (18) ......... (pre­position) building «sheltered accommodation» for elderly people-groups of houses or flats where there is a warden on (19) ........ (noun) to give help. In the 1970s, these companies were virtually unknown. They have come into (20) ......... (noun) because of demographic change.

 

Compare your headings to the ones below. Were they similar? Now match the headings below to the appropriate paragraphs, eg. Paragraph 1 = e.

aAge range of those capable of generating income

bDrawbacks of relying on the dependency ratio

cParticipation of the female in the work force

 

 

dExplanation of the term 'dependency ratio'

eTherelationship between demography and politics

f The effects of longevity

gComments on the dependency ratio in Britain over the last halt

century

hDefinition of the dependent population

iIllustration of the effect of demography on the economy