Indeed, crime rose consistently during the same period in most of Europe as well, so that by 1992 the usually copasetic Swedes had a total violent crime rate nearly equal to Americans'. Property crimes during this period increased just as dramatically, especially in Europe, where the theft rate actually exceeds that of the United States by a fairly wide margin. In 1990, the theft rate in England and Wales was about 60 percent higher than here, while in Sweden, the theft rate was about twice as high. Japan actually experienced a significant decline in violent crime from 1960 to the present. Perhaps more disturbing than rising crime has been the precipitous decline in the formation of families throughout most of the West, which Fukuyama describes in great detail.
Marriage rates are down, and divorce rates are up, as are illegitimate births.
Indeed, marriage as an institution is in such disrepute in Sweden that divorce rates for that nation are nearly meaningless, so few couple bother to marry in the first place. Birthrates are so low in Italy, Spain and Japan that the populations of those nations will experience a 30 percent decline in each successive generation. Europe is losing population at the rate of about 1 percent per year and will be a fraction of its current size by the end of the 21st century unless current trends reverse. What these lower fertility rates mean is that fewer people will spend major portions of their lives living in families. Already, half of all Scandinavians live alone, as do one third of the Swiss and one quarter of Americans.