Austrian families are rather small:
The average family consists of parents and one child. Only in the rural parts of the country, people, on average, enjoy bigger families. This being said, Austrians do expect to marry and have a family. Most young Austrian children are used to the fact that both of their parents are working: Indeed, women comprise nearly 40 percent of the labor force.
Except for younger couples, it is not always the case that duties related to the household and children are necessarily shared: Some homes, especially in rural areas, maintain a patriarchal family structure. To support families (and to a certain degree promote having one) the government offers several support programs: monetary allowances for each child, maternity leave (eight weeks before and after the childbirth), and nursing allowances for care of the elderly. For children who are not in school yet and whose parents are both working during the day are cared for in private or in day-care centers. When it comes to housing, people in urban areas mostly live in apartments while rural families generally live in single-family homes.
Sometimes the extended families will share one large house that contains several apartments. About one-fifth of all housing is publicly owned.
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