Special Eurobarometer 'European social reality'

Special EUROBAROMETER 273 “European Social Reality” Report
1.4 Family life
In this section we examine family life in the European Union in more detail. Firstly
some contextual demographic information 11 about our respondents:
The majority of the respondents live with a partner: 6 out of 10 respondents
are either married (50%), remarried (1%) or living with a partner (9%).
Most adult respondents have (had) children (68%) 12 .
The majority of those who have not had any children would like to have (had)
them (73%) 13 .
Only 22% of respondents live alone in a single person household.
1.4.1 The family as a support network
The importance of the family is clearly evident from the results of the question that
measures to whom people turn when they need help. Overall, the most likely person
to provide support when needed is one’s partner 14 , and if there is no partner it is
another family member who provides the support 15 . Friends, work colleagues,
neighbours or other people are much less frequently called upon for help.
From whom do you
get support in each
of the following
situations?
If you needed help around the
house when ill
If you needed advice about a
serious personal or family
member
No partner Partner Total No partner Partner Total No partner Partner Total No partner Partner Total
Your partner 6% 70% 45% 6% 60% 38% 8% 57% 37% 3% 22% 14%
Family member 69% 25% 43% 58% 28% 40% 41% 21% 29% 64% 49% 55%
Work colleague 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 2% 2% 2% 1% 1% 1%
Friend 11% 1% 5% 25% 7% 14% 37% 15% 24% 9% 4% 6%
Neighbour 4% 1% 2% 2% 0% 1% 3% 1% 2% 1% 0% 1%
Someone else 4% 1% 2% 3% 2% 3% 3% 2% 2% 7% 10% 9%
Nobody 4% 1% 2% 3% 1% 2% 5% 3% 3% 12% 9% 10%
DK 1% 0% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 4% 4% 4%
- 16 -
If you were feeling a bit
depressed and wanting
someone to talk to
If you needed to urgently raise
an important sum of money to
face an emergency
The behaviour of men and women clearly differs when they seek support. Men are
far more likely to turn to their partner except when the issue involves money
whereas women are far more likely to turn to another family member. When women
feel a bit depressed they are more likely than men are to turn to a friend.
11
The figures for the socio-demographic analysis are based on the EU25 data.
12
QA7a. Have you had any children? (IF YES) How many?
13
QA8b. Would you like/have liked to have had children?
14
A respondent has a partner if he or she is married, remarried or unmarried but currently living with a
partner.
15
QA4. From whom would you get support in each of the following situations? For each situation, choose
the most important person.