Šeima, vaikai, šeimos politika: modernėjimo prieštaros: [kolektyvinė monografija]

Abstract

Family policy and fertility. The changes in family and fertility and the related outcomes, such as a lowering population number, growing depopulation, lost demographic balance, rapid ageing of the population, growing difference between the producing and consuming parts of the society, become one of the greatest challenges of the 2Г1 century for economically advanced countries and the social welfare systems of the countries. For this reason the family policy is becoming again the centre of social policy of the European countries (Neyer, 2005). More and more countries with the fertility below the replacement of the generations level are aware of the problem and admit a necessity to take strong measures of the family policy in order to solve the problem (McDonald, 2002). Regardless of the affinity there is a significant variance among the countries in terms of the family policy pursued, which may rest on the differences of historical experience and traditions of family-related policy. It seems that even nowadays in facing similar demographic and social problems, the ways for solution of which are frequently proposed in international recommendations or directives, each country is trying to find a way out of the difficult situation by taking into account the national socio-cultural and economic context. Although the family policies pursued by the countries vary greatly, there are several models of the policy with features in common. The importance of these models for the childbearing behaviour of the individuals varies significantly, too. [...]