Family instability compromises parents' ability to provide the constant care and attention that is generally the underlying factor of good health in children. This is one of the results of the World Family Map 2014 (WFM), which was presented on Thursday, 25 September 2014, within the context of the 2nd International Congress on Family and Society: Family and Sustainable Development, organized by the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya's (UIC) Institute of Advanced Family Studies (IESF) and sponsored by the Santander IsFamily Chair, which was created with the support of the Santander Global Universities Division, Banco Santander and the Joaquim Molins Figueras Foundation.

The World Family Map 2014 monitors global changes in the areas of family structure, family socioeconomics, family processes and family culture by focusing on 16 specific indicators selected by an expert group in a sample of 49 countries representative of the world population. This international project is led by Prof. Bradford Wilcox, from the University of Virginia, with the support of Child Trends, the Social Trends Institute, Focus Global, the Institute for Family Studies and the Doha International Family Institute. Research centres from eight different countries also participated, including the UIC as the exclusive academic partner in Spain.

The study, presented on Thursday, 25 September 2014, by Prof. Wilcox, includes an essay on family instability and early childhood health in developing countries. According to the essay, divorce or partnership dissolution and repartnering are associated with higher levels of diarrhoea, poor growth and child mortality in a number of lower-income regions around the globe.

Single-Parent Families vs. Two-Parent Families?

In the section on family structure, the report also indicates that the number of single-family households is particularly high in Central and South America, followed by many countries in Northern and Western Europe. In South America, more than half of all children are born to single mothers. The rate is the highest in Colombia (84%). In most of Europe, between one third and half of all children are born out of wedlock, whereas in France and Sweden, this percentage is over 50%.

Child Poverty and Undernourishment

In the socioeconomic section, the report points out that, although undernourishment has dropped considerably in the last twenty years (from 23% in 1992 to 15% in 2012), it continues to be an important indicator that disproportionately affects families with children. In terms of poverty, the report indicates that Western Europe has the lowest rates of child poverty of all regions, with the Netherlands and Sweden at the top of the list with the lowest rates in the world (6% and 7%, respectively); France, Germany and Ireland all have rates of close to 10%. On the other hand, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain have higher rates ranging from 18% to 20%.

Marc Grau, a researcher at the IESF, pointed out that Spain's child poverty rate (20%) is in fact one of the highest in Europe, as indicated in other studies. Low public spending on family policies (1.8% of GDP) and the high unemployment rate (25.6%) help make the situation even worse.

Family Structure in Europe and Children's Psychological Health

The study also includes a specific analysis of psychological distress in children ages 9 to 16 in the European Union. Across all 25 EU countries, 21% of children reported medium or high levels of psychological difficulties.

As indicated by Dr. Montserrat Gas, the Director of the IESF, “This detailed report is of great interest because it highlights the fact that the family is the most important institution for child education in the world, as well as the true pillar of society and the best tool for intergenerational solidarity".

THE ACADEMIC PARTNERS OF WORLD FAMILY MAP 2014

Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute (Israel)

Seoul National University (South Korea)

Universidad de los Andes (Chile)

Universidad de Piura (Peru)

Netherlands Youth Institute (Netherlands)

Intermedia Social Innovation (Italy)

Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (Spain)

Universidad de La Sabana (Colombia)

ABOUT THE 2nd INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON FAMILY AND SOCIETY

The 2nd International Congress on Family and Society: Family and Sustainable Development, organized by the UIC's Institute of Advanced Family Studies (IESF), was held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the UN's International Year of the Family. For the two days of the congress, the family was the cross-cutting item in the different thematic topics: economics, health, education and family policies. The congress speakers included outstanding academics such as James Arthur, a professor of Education and the Head of the School of Education at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom), Andrea Maccarini, a professor of Sociology at the Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy), Bradford Wilcox, the Director of the National Marriage Project and an associate professor at the University of Virginia (United States) and Stefano Zamagni, a professor at the Università di Bologna (Italy), as well as social agents such as Stuart Duffin, the Director of Policies and Programmes at One Family (Ireland).