What Constitutes a Large Family Today? A Multi-Dimensional Approach

Abstract

What constitutes a large family? There is no common definition for the size of the family that can be attributed the status of a large family across European countries. In some countries the legislation defines the criteria for a large family (some examples will be provided), in some other countries there isn't any such legislation. However, there are arguments leading the legislators and policy makers to defend their favourite definition (or its lack) of a large family, stemming from different perspectives. This paper aims at discussing the need for legally defining the status of a large family and, mainly, presenting a multi-dimensional approach for arriving to the appropriate size of a family to be named as a large one. These dimensions, which stem from the legal, demographic, utilitarian, and poverty risk / social inclusion perspectives, have direct implications in policy making in the areas of welfare, family, demography and social affairs in general.