The Maltese family has not been spared the institutional crisis that tends to beset modern and secular societies. During this ongoing modernisation and secularisation process, the Maltese family has been characterised by the demographic features of lower birth rates and smaller families.
Ideally, in demographic terms, society is expected to replace itself from one generation to the next by registering a fertility birth rate of 2.1 per every woman. According to the latest demographic statistics published by the National Office of Statistics, the fertility rate in Malta has reached a very low level of 1.08. Such a low fertility rate can be the cause of a demographic deficit, which refers to a situation where there are not enough people of working age who can support those who, for one reason or another, are not active in the labour market.
The older generation forms a major part of this dependency ratio. In the ongoing debate about the number of foreign workers forming part of the Maltese workforce, this issue related to the dependency ratio of the population is often overlooked.
What follows is an attempt to help us identify the nature of this low fertility rate by examining its symptoms. This attempt is being made through a diagnosis that focuses on a set of socio-economic factors that might explain the origins of the prevalence of the extreme low fertility rate in Malta.
Two-earner family: a small family tends to lessen the strains and stresses inherent in the two-earner family that has become the norm in Maltese society.
Career-oriented family: people have become more career oriented. This orientation puts financial and logistical problems on the married couple, which very often force them to postpone their child bearing to a later stage in their married life. A smaller family makes it easier for parents to combine their career prospects with family life.
A small family tends to lessen the strains inherent in the two-earner family that has become the norm in Malta
Affluence: reaching the highest possible level of affluence through work is no longer a goal within reach of a select few but can possibly be achieved through hard work and sacrifices. The burdens associated with a large family may be deemed to be a hindrance to the realisation of such a dream.
Fragility of the family: the fragility of the Maltese family in terms of the increasing number of marital breakdowns must have had its toll on child bearing.
Independence and autonomy: the modern family strives to be economically independent and autonomous rather than being dependent on the largesse of the parents of the spouses
Better home environment: the family strives to make the home a pleasant place. Towards this end, it invests a lot of energy and resources to make home an attractive place to live in. A large family may often be associated with a crowded household where the number of occupants exceeds the dwelling space available. Conversely, a smaller family is likely to be conducive to privacy and better hygiene practices in the household.
Hedonism: the family members can fall easy prey to the forces of hedonism that prevail in modern society. Hedonists tend to have a priory scale in life, which has the potential to intensify the quest for worldly pleasure. This sense of hedonism, rather than making people adjust to the tribulations of life while crying and sobbing in this vale of tears, urges them to seek all the possible avenues of pleasure and enjoyment of life. From a financial point of view, a smaller family can cope better with the nuances of this hedonistic exigency.
Child-centred family: whatever the detractors of the modern family might say, overall, the children benefit from greater attention from parents and the greater opportunities that arise from fewer siblings. Child-centred practices prioritise children’s safety and actively provide support that ensures that the emotional needs of the children are being met to the highest possible level of satisfaction.
Contraceptive measures: a high proportion of married couples have their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods and availability of contraceptives.
What these socio-economic factors that impinge on the size of the family imply is that the family has to function amid a set of dilemmas and ambivalences that may intensify the complexity of married life. In their quest to adjust to this complexity, the spouses have to come to terms with this paradigm shift of marriage life.
In other words, the spouses, in their constant quest to achieve the ideal balance that can make life meaningful, however elusive this goal might seem to be, have to navigate the forces and complexities of modernity.
Saviour RizzoSaviour Rizzo is a former director of the Centre for Labour Studies at the University of Malta.