I Looked out my copy of Descent 84 on request in order to photograph it for the thread on Chris and Judith's 30th year at Descent. This is the October/November 1988 issue as the title suggests. I couldn't resist a little read and was drawn to the results of the 'Descent Survey' which formed the middle pages. The respondents numbered 238. Of interest was the average age of a caver at 31 years old. This is a marked difference to the results of the BCA membership survey from 2017 which showed a median age of 49. This was taken from a larger pool of 2270 members. I appreciate the poll numbers are significantly more for the second group. Also that one group responded to a survey mostly about their reading habits of the magazine and the other info was collected as part of membership applications but it does feel about right to me - that cavers are getting older. I wonder if our friendly statistician would like to comment?
I also noted from the Descent survey that 94% of respondents were male and only 5% female (1% did not answer). Although I have no hard evidence of the male/female mix today recent discussions suggest that this has made significant increases. Parity amongst some younger groups and perhaps 20-25% across caving generally. I'd like to think so anyway.
I also noted from the Descent survey that 94% of respondents were male and only 5% female (1% did not answer). Although I have no hard evidence of the male/female mix today recent discussions suggest that this has made significant increases. Parity amongst some younger groups and perhaps 20-25% across caving generally. I'd like to think so anyway.