Even in the highly individualized, highly mobile 21st century world, the family is still of fundamental importance for people. Over the years its importance as the nucleus of life has if anything increased rather than decreased. For almost 90 percent of the population the family comes first in their list of personal priorities. Young people also value it very highly: 72 percent of 12 to 25-year olds are of the opinion that being happy is dependent on having a family.
Yet ideas about what form families should take, as well as their structure, have changed dramatically in the wake of social change. In the traditional family, the roles played by a couple that was married for life, and bringing up several children, were strictly divided: the father was the breadwinner, the mother a housewife. This “breadwinner” model is certainly still lived out – for example in the lower social classes, by migrants, or for a certain period of time, as long as the children are still small – but it is no longer the predominant way of life.
A far wider range of forms of cohabitation has emerged. There is now significantly greater leeway in choosing between various family forms and even deciding not to have a family at all. This is in no small way connected to the altered role women play and the equal rights they now enjoy: Some 65 percent of mothers are in employment, while at the same time families have become smaller. There are more instances of single-child families than those with three or more children. Two-child families are the most widespread. There are also ever increasing numbers of people living alone or as a couple with no children. In 2008 one in five women between the age of 40 and 44 still had no children.