Out-of-wedlock births are soaring rapidly in the West, reflecting an increasingly liberal attitude towards family formation. But in the East, where the traditional family structure is still widely valued as the bedrock of society, the percentage of births outside marriage remains low.
In 2011, 40 per cent of births in the European Union took place outside of marriage. In eight EU countries, namely Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Iceland, Slovenia, Norway and Sweden, more than half of the babies born in 2011 had unwed mothers. In Iceland, the figure was a staggering 65 per cent - the highest in the world.
According to data compiled by Professor Gavin Jones for a 2012 study, the proportions of out-of-wedlock births in Japan, South Korea and Singapore remained below 2 per cent over the decades. In Taiwan, the proportion was just a tad higher at 3 per cent.
While these statistics are nothing new, something is worth reflecting upon: Is there any benefit to society in promoting marriage? Or conversely, what are the costs to society of the decline of such traditional institutions of marriage?
- Better economic status (Robert I. Lerman, "Married and Unmarried Parenthood and Economic Well-Being"; Fagan, Kidd & Potrykus, "Marriage and Economic Well Being")
- Less likely to commit crimes or engage in substance abuse (Demuth & Brown, "Family Structure, Family Processes and Adolescent Delinquency"; "Family Matters: Substance Abuse and The American Family")
- Less likely to be experience abuse ("The Verdict on Cohabitation versus Marriage"; Patrick F. Fagan, "The Child Abuse Crisis: The Disintegration of Marriage, Family, and the American Community")
Social science confirms the importance of marriage for children. According to the best available sociological evidence, children fare best on virtually every examined indicator when reared by their wedded biological parents. Studies that control for other factors, including poverty and genetics, suggest that children reared in intact homes do better than those who aren’t in categories such as educational achievement, emotional health, familial and sexual development, and delinquency and incarceration.
A Brookings Institution study found that $229 billion in welfare expenditures between 1970 and 1996 can be attributed to the breakdown of the marriage culture and the resulting exacerbation of social ills: teen pregnancy, poverty, crime, drug abuse and health problems. A 2008 study found that divorce and unwed childbearing cost taxpayers $112 billion each year. Utah State University scholar David Schramm estimated that divorce alone costs local, state and federal governments $33 billion each year.
It is a vicious cycle of declining family, increasing costs, and increasing reliance on government. Out-of-wedlock births promote Big Government, and Big Government promotes out-of-wedlock births. The end result in the long run is not pretty, not pretty at all...
Anderson sums up:
Marriage benefits everyone. Separating childbearing and childrearing from marriage burdens innocent bystanders: not just children, but the whole community. Often, the community must step in to provide (more or less directly) for their well-being and upbringing. By encouraging the marriage norms of monogamy, sexual exclusivity and permanence, the state strengthens civil society and reduces its own role.
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Civil recognition of the marriage union of a man and a woman serves the ends of limited government more effectively, less intrusively, and at less cost than does picking up the pieces from a shattered marriage culture.
So far, we have only examined data from American sources. It will be useful to investigate the social cost of out-of-wedlock births in Europe too.
The way forward for Singapore?
Marriage is a social good. It is the foundation of a strong society, promoting wealth and prosperity, while shaping the next generation by inculcating the right values in children. It creates an environment where children are protected, loved and nurtured. It limits the role of government, and reduces reliance on Big Brother. And it is in the interest of both government and society to promote it.
Sexual morality functions as a safeguard against the spiralling social decline associated with out-of-wedlock childbearing. But even if one were morally agnostic, the abovementioned data still is strong evidence that marriage should be protected.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the bulk of human experience known as "tradition" has inclined in favour of marriage. It is also no surprise that all major faiths place a strong emphasis on marriage and child-rearing, a fact recognised by the Singapore government.
Thus far, the Singapore government has been slow to follow the liberal sexual attitudes observed in the West. The Shared Values White Paper (Cmd. 1 of 1991) elaborates:
12. The sanctity of the family unit is not a value unique to Singapore. All major faiths consider this a cardinal virtue. The family is the fundamental building block out of which larger social structures can be stably constructed. It is the group within which human beings most naturally express their love for parents, spouse and children, and find happiness and fulfilment. It is the best way human societies have found to provide children a secure and nurturing environment in which to grow up, to pass on the society's store of wisdom and experience from generation to generation, and to look after the needs of the elderly.
13. In recent decades many developed countries have witnessed a trend towards heavier reliance on the state to take care of the aged, and more permissive social mores, such as increasing acceptance of "alternative lifestyles", casual sexual relationships and single parenthood. The result has been to weaken the family unit. Singapore should not follow these untested fashions critically.