The article “The Family in 2050: The Contractual Family Will Help Increase Birth Rates in Europe” received a great deal of feedback. Some readers saw the contractual family as a possible solution to the demographic problem, while others regarded it as too significant a change to familiar relationships.

Today, the crisis of the family is described as the result of lost values, selfishness and people’s unwillingness to accept responsibility. But these explanations do not answer the main question: why do families continue to break down, why are birth rates falling, and why are increasing numbers of women and men who would like to have children consciously avoiding marriage and long-term relationships?