Germany is a low-fertility country with a rapidly ageing population, and will remain so for the foreseeable future. There are several reasons for this trend. Germany is among the countries with the highest rates of childlessness in the world, and childlessness has become widely accepted. This is illustrated by changes in living arrangements. A broad range of living arrangements has been added to the basic model of marriage with children; namely, single living, non-marital cohabitation, lone parenthood, patchwork families and living apart together. A culture of individualism has spread in Germany which forms the basis for widespread decisions against family formation. The desired number of children has become low and family policy is considered to be a failure in terms of its influence on fertility. German family policy has had a traditional orientation centred on monetary support to families and on the promotion of the male breadwinner model. Women have been largely forced to choose between family and work, and leave the labour market when a child is born. The still prevailing concept of family policy does not help to reduce the pressure to choose between work and family life, and thus makes it easier to decide not to have children, especially for highly educated women. A change in family policy is needed which will enable couples to choose between the breadwinner-housewife and the reconciliation model. Gradually, this change is starting to take place.1 with the assistance of Cordula Zabel 2 Federal Institute for Population Research, Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 4, D-65189 Wiesbaden, Germany. E-mail: juergen.dorbritz@destatis.de Dorbritz: Germany: Family diversity with low actual and desired fertility 558http://www.demographic-research.org
Introduction: The demographic situation in GermanyGermany is the second most populous European country (after Russia), with a population of 82.32 million on 1 January 2007. It is also among the 20 countries with the lowest Total Fertility Rates worldwide (Population Reference Bureau 2007), something which has been typical of at least Western Germany since the mid-1970s. An intensive debate has developed recently on this topic. It was instigated by the ageing of the population, and by the risk this poses to the social security systems. It is, above all, the childless who have become the subject of observation, and who are accused of investing in private old-age pensions since they do not have to pay for children, whilst parents are investing in tomorrow's contributors. "No children -no pension, one childhalf pension" is only one of the catch-phrases used in this discussion. One of the main aims of this chapter is to analyse and explain the low-fertility situation which has arisen in Germany. Before analysing fertility and family changes in the country, I first provide an outline of demographic trends in Germany.The population of Germany reached a maximum of 82.54 million in 2003, and started to diminish thereafter as a result of declining immigration and persistent low fertili...
