Abstract
For the demographer these are eventful days. All-time records are being established on the basic population variables. For 10 years the American birth rate has been about 15 per 1,000, lower than it had ever been before; the expectation of life, after some hesitation, is rising again, and that of women could well reach 80 years in the near future; legal abortions are near the 1.5-million mark; one-sixth of all births are to unmarried women. In addition to these facts affecting the biological variables of birth and death are changes in social aspects of population: the divorce rate sets a new record each year; women have entered the labor force in unheard-of proportions, and even mothers of young children now take jobs; unconventional living arrangements are widespread.
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© 1983 Plenum Press, New York
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Keyfitz, N. (1983). American Demographic Directions. In: Horner, M., Nadelson, C.C., Notman, M.T. (eds) The Challenge of Change. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3646-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-3646-4_1
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