Austrian Institute for Family Studies

European Observatory on the social situation, demography and family

The European Observatory

The EU Observatory on the Social Situation, Demography and the Family, which monitored developments in what were then the EU-15 Member States, began its work in 1989 under the name “Observatory on National Family Policies.” The observatory was established by the European Commission on the basis of the conclusions of the Council of Ministers responsible for family affairs of 29 September 1989, as well as the Commission Communication COM(89) 363 final on family policy.

In its first ten years, it became clear that an exclusive focus on family policy was too narrow and that additional policy areas were of central importance. Against this backdrop, the observatory’s thematic remit was expanded in 1999. The accompanying name change marked the transition from a narrow family-policy focus to a broader social-scientific perspective, with the family as the starting point.

In its first year, the observatory was coordinated by the Institut de l’Enfance et de la Famille in Paris. From 1990 to 1994, this role was taken on by the Catholic University of Leuven, followed by the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York until 1997. From 1998 to 2004, coordination was handled by the Austrian Institute for Family Studies (OIF) at the University of Vienna. In 2004, the observatory in this form was discontinued by the European Commission.

The body consisted of independent experts—one person per EU‑15 country—who did not act as country representatives but as distinguished scholars from sociology, demography, statistics, economics, and other social sciences. They combined academic excellence with detailed knowledge of their respective national contexts and worked solely on the basis of their scientific expertise.

The observatory was set up by the EU as an instrument for policy advice. Its main tasks included:

  • monitoring policy developments in Europe affecting the social situation, demography, and the family;
  • analyzing policy approaches and the impacts of family policy measures;
  • tracking demographic, socioeconomic, and political changes affecting families; and
  • fostering scholarly discourse on the social situation, demography, the family, and related policy measures.

Some of the Observatory’s publications