Why marriage and children matter at a time of crisis
What do marriage and the number of children being born have to do with the economy?
That is the question posed in an international report entitled “The sustainable demographic
dividend”, published by the US based Social Trends Institute.
It says the
fiscal and economic crises enveloping many of the world’s wealthiest nations—from
Italy and Japan to the United Kingdom and the United States—have brought to light
the economic challenges arising from tectonic shifts in demography in the developed
world.
“Specifically, dependent elderly populations are surging even as productive
working-age populations stagnate or shrink in much of the developed world. Also at
work is another demographic trend sweeping the world: the decline in the number and
percentage of children raised in intact, married families”, says Professor W. Bradford
Wilcox, sociologist and director of the National Marriage Project at the University
of Virginia.
He observes that “key sectors of the economy, particularly businesses
that cater to the family, from household products to insurance, are more likely to
make a profit when men and women marry and have children”.
Wilcox says the
aim of the report, sponsored by Universities in North and South America and Asia,
is to urge business, government, civil society to strengthen the family, particularly
because the wealth of nations and health of the modern economy is “tied to the fortunes
of families”.
Listen to Emer McCarthy’s full interview with Prof. Wilcox: