Mikrocensus 1991, 2. quarter: Questions on Families

The family is currently in a state of flux. The birthrate today is much lower than in past times. The number of new marriages is declining while the number of young people who stay single increases. Many people live in extramarital life partnerships. These new trends create problems, which politics, administration and various non-governmental organisations such as family relations have to overcome. To make this possible, it is necessary to have reliable information which has been non existent up to now. There has for instance been no statistical data on the number of stepchildren although more and more children affected by their parents divorce grow up with their parents’ new partners. Only with this survey, which asks questions on the existence of parents outside the household, the gap is closed. However, the older generation is also of interest. Little is known about their families. Normally only relatives living in the same household are recorded in the statistics. Therefore, many married couples are labelled childless although their children have only moved out. This makes the question on relatives outside the interviewees’ households necessary. Information on the existence of relatives and contacts with them are also necessary to appraise in how far relatives are or can be included in the care of the increasing number of elderly people. The special program consists of 4 parts: 1. questions on the existence of biological relatives (B 22 and B 23: to all persons) 2. questions on the birth of children (B 24 and B 25: to women over 15 B 26 to B 28: to women between 20 and 40) 3. questions on the moving out from the parents’ household (B 29 and B 30: to all persons between 15 and 60) 4. questions on marriage and divorce (B 31 to B 35: to all married, divorced and widowed persons between 15 and 60)