EU – DEMOGRAPHY & FAMILY POLICIES – CHANGES FROM THE “TRADITIONAL” FAMILY IN EUROPE

Direct Link to Full 44-Page 2016 Report:

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/571394/IPOL_STU(2016)571394_EN.pdf

“Even though the world’s population has been rising constantly and the demographic change

has been faster and more universal than ever before in human history, Europe’s population

has been ageing.

All EU Member States exhibit increasing life expectancy and decreasing fertility rates, while

the problem of sustaining the working age population and by consequence economic growth

becomes more prominent. Pension systems have fewer workers-contributors and expenses

for medical care and elderly care also increase and cannot be sustained.

New family arrangements, delayed union formation (marriage or cohabitation) between

members of different or the same sex, postponement of childbearing, rising divorce rates

and higher numbers of children born out of wedlock, as well as ideas and attitudes of

European citizens have also been undergoing transformation. Traditional family is no longer

the dominant form.”