Research reveals why the typical family is shrinking the-messenger.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from the-messenger.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A new study from the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research says that people born today are less likely to have cousins in extended families. Host Carol Hills speaks with Diego Alburez-Gutierrez, the lead author of the study, about the factors behind this increasing phenomenon and what it means for people to have fewer kinfolk in their everyday lives.
Scientists have predicted that the average family of the future will be a lot smaller and older as more grandparents and great-grandparents survive with fewer children being born.