Social Trends: Faces of The Nation

Younger women have fewer children. On average, women born in 1937 had 1.9 children before they were 30, while those born in 1967 had just 1.3.

In 1961 domestic water consumption was 85 litres per head per day. By 1997 it had risen to 160.

Jack and Chloe were the most popular names given to babies in 1997.

There were almost 12,700 permanent exclusions from schools in England in 1996-97.

The number of working days lost through labour disputes in 1997 was the lowest since records began in 1891.

The proportion of household expenditure on food fell from 17 per cent in 1971 to 11 per cent in 1997, while that spent on transport and communication rose from 7 per cent to 9 per cent.

The prevalence of smoking in England is increasing among children and among young teenage girls in particular; in 1996, by the age of 15, a third of girls and over a quarter of boys were regular smokers.

The average duration of a stay in NHS hospitals as an in-patient has fallen from eight days in 1981 to five days in 1996-97.

Infants are more at risk of homicide than any other group, with a rate of 55.7 per million of population in 1997.

The percentage of women in Great Britain drinking more than 14 units of alcohol a week increased from 9 per cent to 14 per cent between 1984 and 1996-97.

n The area of woodland in the United Kingdom has more than doubled this century, to cover more than 10 per cent of the land area in 1996.

n Visiting the pub is the most common activity outside the home. In 1997- 98, 75 per cent of people over 16 said they had made such a visit in the previous three months.