1. Introduction
The links between activities of the family and social security have changed over time,
especially in the process of industrialisation, when formal social security schemes were
introduced. Today there are many important interactions between families and social security
which gain a lot of attention because of demographic ageing in industrialised countries
resulting from low fertility and increasing life expectancy as well as in periods of increasing
costs in formal social security schemes. The problems as well as objectives and instruments,
however, differ depending on the economic, demographic and social conditions of a country.
The following remarks are focused on highly industrialised countries with an ageing
population.
The paper starts with some more general remarks on the topic, on links between family
activities and social security (2) and on main arguments for family policy and its design in
particular when realised by social security schemes (3). In a second part the situation in
Germany is presented as a case study illustrating major instruments already implemented (4)
and important topics that are discussed in improving the situation of families by means of
social security and effects linked to various measures (5).
The main focus of the paper is on the links between the family and social insurance. In
Germany social insurance is the major part of social security arrangements. At present the
topic „family and social insurance“ is much debated in Germany. An important reason is a
decision of the German Constitutional Court of Justice of 2001. According to this decision,
families with children have to be burdened less by contribution payments compared to
persons without children in the quite new statutory (social) long-term care insurance.1 What
makes this decisions highly interesting from a general point of view as well as in the German
political process is that government and parliament are obliged to check whether families with
children are burdened too much also in other pay-as-you go (PAYGO) financed social
insurance schemes like health insurance and particularly in pension insurance. Several
important and fundamental questions are linked hereto. The answers given can change above
all the structure of social pension insurance.
Long-term care insurance was introduced in Germany in 1995 as the fifth branch of social
insurance beside accident, health, unemployment and pension insurance. See for example
Schmahl and Rothgang (1996).