2011-11-16 13:16:38

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: RealAudioMP3








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