ABSTRACT
This chapter examines societal issues in the five welfare states: Germany, Sweden, Denmark, France and UK, using the following core elements: demographic factors, labour market status, child-care coverage and facilities and economic support. These four elements are inter-linked and are important when analysing families and their situations in different welfare states. The developments in the 1970s can be interpreted as a response to a new family pattern: the use of contraception and the later birth of the first child. Family policy and family life are dependent on and interact with the functioning of the labour markets. The chapter discusses the differences in levels of spending in the five countries, and also that comparison can be quite difficult due to differences in institutional structure such as the use of the housing benefit in the UK and quotient familial in France. It deals with the main differences and commonalities in relation to family allowances and day care services.
