Various forms of partnering - such as officially registered marriages, cohabiting relationships, and other kinds of relatively stable relationships - are crucial in the formation of families throughout the world. Although, today, forms of partnering in the region are not restricted to formal marriage, the norm remains for couples to marry - to establish a new family, and to accept the cultural requirement to have children. This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of partnerships and marriage in the Southeast Asian region using quantitative data alongside qualitative approaches.Through the research of demographers, sociologists and anthropologists, it examines the way trends in the formation and dissolution of marriages are related to changes in the region's economy and society; illuminating both the broad forces affecting marriage patterns and the way these forces work out at the individual and family level. Presenting the variety of contemporary marriage patterns in the region, with an emphasis on the ways in which marriage issues impinge on the welfare of those concerned, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of Southeast Asia and the sociology of the family.

Various forms of partnering - such as officially registered marriages, cohabiting relationships, and other kinds of relatively stable relationships - are crucial in the formation of families throughout the world. Although, today, forms of partnering in the region are not restricted to formal marriage, the norm remains for couples to marry - to establish a new family, and to accept the cultural requirement to have children.

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of partnerships and marriage in the Southeast Asian region using quantitative data alongside qualitative approaches.Through the research of demographers, sociologists and anthropologists, it examines the way trends in the formation and dissolution of marriages are related to changes in the region's economy and society; illuminating both the broad forces affecting marriage patterns and the way these forces work out at the individual and family level.

Presenting the variety of contemporary marriage patterns in the region, with an emphasis on the ways in which marriage issues impinge on the welfare of those concerned, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars of Southeast Asia and the sociology of the family.

Since its inception in 1945, the Republic of Indonesia has experienced a series of profound social changes. The spread of schooling, the transformation of the economy, and the consolidation of a unified state have transformed the lives of Indonesian citizens. It is seldom recognized, however, that the most fundamental changes have occurred in the family sphere. Marriages that used to be arranged by parents are now more likely to be determined by couples. Unions occur when the couples are much older. The adoption of birth control practices has reduced fertility from large families to a two-child norm in just over thirty years. These changes have molded the lives of individual women, described here through a series of personal case studies, and shaped the size and structure of the national population, as seen in the statistics produced by the government on a regular basis. The story that emerges gives strong hints about where the Indonesian population will be heading in the next fifty years with a growing proportion of aged citizens. Most importantly People, Population, and Policy in Indonesia shows the importance of collaborations between Indonesian leaders and their foreign colleagues in the efforts to reshape the Indonesian population and improve its social and economic welfare.