The changing family in international perspective; families are becoming smaller and less traditional as fertility rates fall and more persons live alone; Scandinavian countries are the pacesetters in developing nontraditional forms of family living, but the United States has the highest incidence of divorce and of single-parent households - The American Family During the 20th Century

Monthly Labor Review, March, 1990 by Constance Sorrentino

Married couples living with both their children and parents made up 12 percent of all households in Japan in 1985. However, such households have lost considerable ground since 1960, when they represented one-quarter of all households in Japan. Meanwhile, three-generation households have virtually disappeared in Europe and North America. For example, the traditional German "stem" family comprising more than two generations represented 6 percent of all households in 1961, but only 2 percent by 1981. The share of the population residing in such households fell from 11 percent to less than 4 percent.(6)

Household composition

Households come in many sizes and types. Table 6 sets forth a proportional distribution by major household type for the period 1960 to 1988. Despite definitional differences that do not allow for full comparability across countries, broad distinctions and trends are reliable. Deviations that should be kept in mind involve the concepts of a married couple and a child. The classification "married couple" increasingly includes couples living together who are not legally married. The definition of the age limit for a child varies considerably from country to country, ranging from under the age of 16 in Sweden and under 18 in the United States and several other countries to any age in Germany and the Netherlands. Finally, the data for Denmark are derived differently than those for the other countries. For further information on all of these points, see the appendix.

Table 6 indicates that all countries shown, except Japan, are moving in the same direction in terms of household composition, although some are moving much faster than others. Married-couple households are declining in share in all but Japan; however, this category disguises the different changes occurring in the households with children, as opposed to those without children. Married-couple households without children are holding steady or increasing, while households comprising married couples with children are declining everywhere. Single-parent and one-person households are both on the rise.

All of the trends shown are partly reflections of the demographic patterns previously discussed. The erosion of marriage and the increase in divorce rates have brought about the decrease in the proportion of married-couple households. The decline would have been even greater in some countries if cohabiting couples had been excluded from the more recent statistics. Diminishing fertility rates and aging of the population, as well as postponement of parenthood among those who intend to have children, are behind the decline in the percentage of married couples with children. Divorce rates combine with the sharp rise in births out of wedlock to propel the increase in single-parent households. Postponement of marriage, increases in the incidence of divorce, and the aging of the population all have played a part in the increase in the proportion of one-person households. The next sections examine these trends in further detail.