Since the 1960s, this core social institution has gone through an extraordinary upheaval. The crude marriage rate has almost halved (from around 9 to 5 marriages per thousand population per year). Among couples who do get married, three-quarters cohabit first (up from just 16% thirty years ago). The median age at which people get married has risen in just twenty years from 25 to 30 for men, and from 23 to 29 for women. More than one-third of marriages end in divorce, and half of all divorces involve couples raising dependent children. Although the crude divorce rate has stabilized over the last decade or so, it is still running at almost three times the rate prior to 1975.

Fertility rates have fallen dramatically since the 1960s, from around 3 to fewer than 2 children per woman, and the median age at which women have their first child has increased from 27 twenty years ago to nearly 31 today. Over one-third of couples now remain childless, and of those babies that do get born, one-third are to unmarried women. Unmarried couples are much more likely to separate than those who are married, which is one reason why three in ten families are now either single parents or step and blended families. Only 70% of children live with both their natural parents throughout their childhood.

CIS research has examined the impact on children of family instability and has identified various policy changes (such as divorce law reform and tax changes) that might help restore and strengthen stable parenting patterns. Current research also looks at reforms to the child support payments system and child care.

Key questions:

• What are the social causes and consequences of the decline of marriage and the growth of single parenthood?
  
  
• How have government policies, such as changes in family law and taxation policy, impacted on family stability, and what should be done about it?
  
  
• What, if anything, should be the role of government in helping families raise their children and manage their lives?