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Reading Text - Divorce

The document discusses how divorce rates are rising globally and fewer couples are marrying, questioning if the traditional nuclear family is becoming obsolete. Family sizes are decreasing as well, with more women focusing on careers and delaying starting families. However, it is still uncertain if the nuclear family will disappear completely as some trends are reversing in some countries.

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Marwa Madkour
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105 views2 pages

Reading Text - Divorce

The document discusses how divorce rates are rising globally and fewer couples are marrying, questioning if the traditional nuclear family is becoming obsolete. Family sizes are decreasing as well, with more women focusing on careers and delaying starting families. However, it is still uncertain if the nuclear family will disappear completely as some trends are reversing in some countries.

Uploaded by

Marwa Madkour
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A quiet revolution? Families are also getting smaller.

The average
Turkish family had seven members in 1970;
As divorce rates rise and fewer couples today it has only five. And in Spain and Italy,
bother with marriage, we ask if the where families were always traditionally
traditional nuclear family is becoming a thing large, the birthrate was the lowest in the
of the past. developed world in 1995. This fall in the
birthrate is due in part to the fact that, as
While you are reading this article, somewhere more women have careers, they are waiting
in the United States two couples will get longer and longer to start a family. The age at
married and another will get divorced. One in which the average woman has her first baby is
three American children now live with only now 28 in Western Europe, and it is getting
one parent, and the United States is not alone later.
in this: in Canada and France the divorce rate
has doubled in the last twenty-five years, and So the nuclear family is clearly changing, but
in Hungary and Greece it has increased by 50 is it in danger of disappearing completely?
per cent. Even in Japan, where the traditional
family is still strong, divorce went up by 15 The truth is that it is still too early to tell. In
per cent between 1980 and 1995. some countries these patterns are actually
reversing. In the United States, Scandinavia
What is more, the nature of the family is and the United Kingdom, the birthrate is
changing. In Sweden and Denmark, around rising once more; and in Denmark, for
half of all babies are now born to unmarried example, marriage is becoming more popular
parents, and in the United Kingdom and again. In the United States, the divorce rate in
France more than a third. Even in Ireland, fact fell by 10 per cent between 1980 and
traditionally the most Catholic country in 1990, and it is continuing to fall.
Europe, the rate of births outside marriage is
20 per cent. Perhaps a new revolution is beginning?

©Cutting Edge, Intermediate, Sarah Cunningham & Peter Moor, SB, 9 th Edition 2003, LONGMAN
Speaking and reading
a) What do you think the article is about?
b) In pairs, check the meaning of the words in bold in your dictionaries.
 The divorce rate is rising.
 More young people are moving away from home.
 The average family is getting smaller as the birthrate falls.
 More parents are bringing their children up alone without a partner.
 The nuclear family is clearly changing.
 Four out of 10 children are born outside marriage in 1999, compared with just one in 10 in 1979.
c) In groups, discuss which of these things are happening in your country and why.

Read the article and tick (✔) the topics above if they are mentioned.

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