The decline in mortality reflects factors such as better nutrition, higher living standards, advances in medical science, better medical facilities and improved working conditions. The National Health Service provides a full range of medical services which are available to all residents, regardless of their income. There is widespread opportunity for people to learn, both at school and when older. A growing proportion of the population has at least one educational qualification. Compulsory schooling takes place between the ages of 4 or 5 and 16.
Many pupils remain at school beyond the minimum leaving age.
An increasing number go on to study at university or at other institutions of further or higher education. Britain became the world's first industrialised country in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Wealth was based on the manufacture of iron and steel, heavy machinery and textiles, and coalmining, shipbuilding and trade. The economic and industrial pattern has altered considerably in the last few years. Financial and other business services have grown in significance.