Although remarkable differences can be observed among regions regarding the importance of the family in society, divisions are never static. In an increasingly globalising world, different welfare regimes can be affected by the same or similar processes which might alter earlier patterns. Among the large variety of processes, demographic changes induced by urbanisation, industrialisation and post-industrialisation; and economic pressures arising from the neoliberal shift in the 1970s are the most noteworthy and are dedicated special attention in this section.