SOCIAL ANALYSIS

Overview of UK Social System

The social structure of the United Kingdom has historically been highly influenced by the concept
of social class, with the concept still affecting British society in the early-21st century. British society,
like its European neighbors and most societies in world history, was traditionally divided into caste
system and the hereditary transmission of occupation, social status and political influence. Since the
advent of industrialization, this system has been in a constant state of revision, and new factors other
than birth are now a greater part of creating identity in Britain. Although definitions of social class in
the United Kingdom vary and are highly controversial, most are influenced by factors of wealth,
occupation and education. Until recently the Parliament of the United Kingdom was organized on a
class basis, with the Lords representing the hereditary upper class and the House of
Commons representing everyone else, and the British monarch is often viewed as being at the top of
the social class structure.

The UK has been at the forefront of youth culture since the heyday of the Beatles and Rolling Stones in
the 1960s. It has a rich literary heritage encompassing the works of English writers such as William
Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, Scot Robert Burns, Welshman Dylan Thomas and Northern Irishman
Seamus Heaney. The United Kingdom contains many of the world's leading universities, including the
University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, the University of Edinburgh and the University of
London (which incorporates, amongst others, Imperial College and University College London), and has
produced many great scientists and engineers including Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Isambard
Kingdom Brunel.

British society has experienced significant change since the Second World War, including an expansion
of higher education and home-ownership, a shift towards a services-dominated economy, mass
immigration, a changing role for women and a more individualistic culture, and these changes have
had a considerable impact on the social landscape.

Demographic Characteristics
According to the July 2012 estimate population of United Kingdom is 63,047,162. It has the 22nd largest
population in world. Its population density is among the largest in the world and almost one-third of
the population lives in England Almost one-third of the population lives in England. The UK has an
extremely high literacy rate of 99%. Parents are obliged to have their children educated from the ages
of 5 to 16. The Church of England and the Church of Scotland serve as the official churches of their
respective countries. The population is mainly white, with 92.1%, followed by 4% South Asian, 2%
black, 1.2% mixed, 0.4% Chinese and 0.4% other.

Population
The United Kingdom has a total estimated population of 63,047,162 people. As per the estimate of
year 2000 it was 59,511,460. The average annual percent change in the population is 0.553% resulting
from a surplus or deficit of births over deaths and the balance of migrants entering and leaving a

26 | P a g e Waris Hussain UK PESTLE Analysis

country. As per population growth rate UK is raked 146th in the world. As per 2011 estimate 83.9% of
population is in England, 8.4% in Scotland, 4.8% in Wales and 2.9% in Northern Ireland. The major
populated cities of UK are LONDON (capital) 8.615 million; Birmingham 2.296 million; Manchester
2.247 million; West Yorkshire 1.541 million; Glasgow 1.166 million. The UK's high population density is
thanks to the extremely high population density in England, as it has a very large population, yet is only
an island, with not much land area. The birth rate is 12.27 births per 1000 people and the death Rate is
9.33 deaths per thousand people. The average life expectancy is 78.05 years for male and 82.4 year for
female. Past data shows that currently in UK death rate is decreasing while birth rate is increasing.

Detail chart of population and population growth

Population
Population
growth
(m)
rate rate is given in Appendix (F)
64 (%)
0.663
0.562
0.461
0.360
0.259
0.158
057
2009
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008

2010
2011
2012
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012

Age Structure
In Dec 2012 Office of National Statistics
has summarized the key feature of the
age distribution profile for UK. This
data depicts that people who aged 60-
64 were born following the Second
World War and those aged 40-49 born
during the 1960 baby boom. There is a
smaller number of children aged five to nine years than ten years ago which is a consequence of low
numbers of births at the beginning of the 20th century, and the broadening of the pyramid in the 0-4
years category is due to a higher numbers of births in recent years. At older ages, females outnumber
males, reflecting the higher life expectancy of females. At younger ages there are more males than
females, reflecting that there are slightly more boys than girls born each year. In age group 0-14 nearly
5.7 million are male while 5.2 m are female, in age group 15-64 nearly 20.8m are male while 20.95m
are female and in age group 65+ nearly 4.6m are male while 5.8m are female. In UK sex ratio for new
birth is 1.05 male per every female, for age bracket 1-14 is 1.05 male per every female, for age bracket
15-64 is 1.02 male per every female and for 65 years and over age bracket sex ratio is 0.8 male per
every female. Male to female ratio for overall population is according to July 2011 estimate is 0.99
male per every female. Detail chart of age structure is given in Appendix (G)

Dependency Ratio

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The Age dependency ratio (% of working-age population) in the United Kingdom was last reported at
51.87 in 2011, according to a World Bank report published in 2012. Age dependency ratio is the ratio of
dependents--people younger than 15 or older than 64--to the working-age population--those ages 15-
64. Data are shown as the proportion of dependents per 100 working-age population. As the ratio is
increasing in given chart this means burden on productive part of the population is increasing. This will
result in direct impact on financial expenditure on things line pension funding, old age benefit
program, social securities etc.

The main reason is that low birth rates in the UK as compare to other countries and rising life
expectancy are leading to a rapid aging and a decline in working age population. That means that the
dependency ratio is gradually moving up. Obviously, the higher the ratio, the fewer working people
there are to pay for the elderly. If that continues, than at some point the cost of supporting the elderly
will become unsustainable.

Detail chart of dependency ratio is given in Appendix (H)

Ethnicity
The UK is a very multicultural place and ethnically diverse. Main ethnic groups include British, Asians,
and Africans/African Americans. The 2001 census showed that 92.1% was of the population was White,
of which English are 83.6%, Scottish are 8.6%, Welsh are 4.9% and Northern Irish are 2.9% where as
there are2% Black, 1.8% Indian, 1.3% Pakistani, 1.2% mixed and 1.6%are others.

The country has been struggling with issues revolving around multiculturalism, immigration and
national identity. This is against a background of concerns about terrorism and Islamist radicalism,
heightened after the suicide bomb attacks on London's transport network in 2005. One of the more
recent trends in migration has been the arrival of workers from the new EU member states in Eastern
Europe.

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Religion
The main and traditional religion in the UK is
Christianity. The Church of England (Anglican) Religion wise Population
is the established church in England. Similarly,
the Church of Scotland (a Presbyterian Christian
Church) is regarded as the 'national church'
Muslim
but it is not official. Wales and Northern
Ireland do not have an established church. Hindu
Most people (71.6%) are Christian, but other
main religions include Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Other
and Judaism.
Unspecified

Detail chart of Religion ratio is given in Appendix (I)

Class Structure and Education

Britain was once a class-ridden society. Today, multiculturalism and a changing economy are gradually
eroding the British class system, but some features of the system still remain. Sociologists define social
class as the grouping of people by occupations. Doctors and lawyers and university teachers are given
more status than unskilled laborers. The different positions represent different levels of power,
influence and money. In days gone by your class would affect your chances of getting an education, a
job, etc. and it would also affect the people who you could socialize with and marry. Today this type of
thing is all-but-gone with the high-profile exception of the Royal family.

The British society has often been considered to be divided into three main groups of classes:
 The Upper Class
often people with inherited wealth. Includes some of the oldest families, with many of them
being titled aristocrats.
 The Middle Class
The majority of the population of Britain. They include industrialists, professionals, business
people and shop owners.
 Lower or Working Class
People who are agricultural, mine and factory workers.

The poverty line in the UK today is:

1. Single adult, no children: £165 per week 2. Couple, no children: £248 per week
3. Lone parent, 1 child: £215 per week 4. Lone parent, 2 children: £264 per week
5. Lone parent, 3 children: £314 per week 6. Couple, 1 child: £297 per week
7. Couple, 2 children: £347 per week 8. Couple, 3 children: £396 per week
As far as Education is concerned each country of the United Kingdom has a separate education system,
with power over education matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland being devolved. Education
is mandatory from ages five to sixteen. The UK has some of the top universities in the world with

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Cambridge, Oxford, London and Edinburgh ranked amongst the top 20 in the 2011. The United
Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education introduced for the
primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900.

Government expenditure in UK is about 5.5% of GDP and it is ranked 44 in the world for his
expenditure on Education. Education is one of the United Kingdom great export industry. International
(non-UK) students in UK HE in 2010-11:
 totaled 428,225 compared with 405,810 in 2009-10 (an increase of 6%), with full-time
undergraduate study up 9%, full-time taught postgraduate courses up 8% and full-time
research postgraduates up 4%, while full-time "other" undergraduates and postgraduates,
and all part-time non-UK student numbers decreased.
 made up 14% of full-time first degree students and 13% of all first degree students
 made up 70% of full-time taught postgraduates and 46% of all taught postgraduates
 made up 48% of full-time research degree students and 41% of all research postgraduates

Culture
UK life is an incredible mix of international cultures and contemporary thinking, held together by a
strong sense of identity and tradition. The food you can buy in the UK reflects the many ethnic
influences in British society. Most supermarkets sell ingredients from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and
Latin America, as well as food from many other parts of the world. Music is a big part of UK culture.
Whether you just listen or take part, you’ll find pop, rock, electro, hip-hop, classical, folk, and jazz,
opera and all sorts of world music. The UK also has a vibrant theatre and performing arts heritage,
maintaining both traditional plays and musicals, and encouraging new and alternative productions.
There are cinemas in almost every UK town and city, showing feature films from all over the world.
There are also many film festivals in Britain, focusing on themes in film, specific directors or animation.
The UK offers an incredible and beautiful landscape for walking, climbing, cycling, mountain-biking and
running. The mountains of Scotland and Wales, the rolling hills of England and Northern Ireland, the
Lake District and the Yorkshire moors, as well as the coastline of all parts of the UK will be all around
you. Many UK institutions have state-of-the-art sports facilities

Entrepreneurial spirit
Overall prosperity is on the rise in the UK, according to the latest findings. Britain climbed one place in
the worldwide prosperity rankings in 2012 as well as scaling the Governance, and Safety & Security
sub-categories and ranks amongst the world’s 30 ‘Top Performers’ for overall prosperity. However,
poor economic performance and low confidence in the health of the UK economy could hold back
Britain’s prosperity. The UK fell four places in the Economy sub-index since last year, now ranking in
26th position.

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According to the Index, low start-up costs for new businesses are a key factor in the UK’s strong
Entrepreneurship & Opportunity score. Start-up costs in the UK are low at 0.7 per cent of Gross
National Income, compared to the global average of 20 per cent. Britain ranks in sixth position in the
Entrepreneurship and Opportunity sub-index. In addition, British citizens have increasingly equal
access to opportunities falling from 4.7 to 4.2 over the last three years.

Health and Environment

Healthcare in England is mainly provided by England's public health service, the National Health
Service, that provides healthcare to all permanent residents of the United Kingdom that is free at the
point of use and paid for from general taxation. Since health is a devolved matter, there are differences
with the provisions for healthcare elsewhere in the United Kingdom. Though the public system
dominates healthcare provision in England, private health care and a wide variety of alternative and
complementary treatments are available for those not willing to pay.

As far as Environmental Consciousness is concerned, rising trend can be found in UK. As one of the top
50 countries in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, the UK governments try to make sure that they do
their best in other areas in order to ensure that they do not contribute more to the worsening of the
globe on a worldwide scale. Current government have plans in place in order to try and combat the
past few decades' worth of ignorance we had, including more recycling schemes being offered and
plans to cut both household and business waste and the use of landfill sites.

Challenges for United Kingdom

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UK has a population of around 63 million, and a total area of 243,610 square km, giving it a population
density of nearly 260 people per square km. This is a very dense population, and will soon become very
overwhelming. High population density means many problems. For example, there won't be enough
resources for the population, with very high demand on certain resources. The large population also
means many large cities that are replacing the farmlands used for agriculture, which used to be a large
part of the economy. At the moment, there is a large amount of middle aged population, which will soon
become a very large dependency load, because they will also have a large amount of children, on top of
the already large population of children. The graph below of the population pyramids for the UK from
2010 to 2050 show the population getting larger and moving upward. This means the population is
going to continue to grow, yet the total area to support these people will remain the same. The
movement of the population upwards shows a growing elderly population, which means a large
dependency. In a way, it is a vicious circle because the large amount of working class will soon become
elderly, and the large amount of children will become working class, who will produce more children.
Evidently, the population growth must be slowed down, but this is hard because of the dependency load
needing a working class to support them.

Detail chart of population growth over time is given in Appendix (J)

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