It appears that in Europe few lift an accusing eye at parents who bear children without getting married. This is especially true in northern Europe and not at all uncommon the further south one goes.
While the U.S. government is actively promoting marriage, many Europeans seem to consider the relationship between men and women a very personal decision and not the reason to seek sanction of either church or state. The British government recently agreed acknowledging that there are many alternatives to the classic family structure, though in deeply religious countries such as Italy, few children are born to unwed parents just 9 percent in 1998.
Single parents in Europe are generally better off economically than in the U.S. because welfare policies are specifically intended to ensure all children are given the same financial benefits and legal treatment whether their parents are married, cohabitating, separated, divorced or single.
Said one observer, “They’ve taken the marital status out of it and focused on the children.”
Source: Sarah Lyall, For Europeans, Love, Yes; Marriage, Maybe,
New York Times, March 24, 2002.
For text http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/24/international/europe/24MARR.html
For more on Out of Wedlock Births http://www.ncpa.org/iss/soc
FMF Policy Bulletin/03 April 2002
