With an ageing population and insufficient workers to provide financial support, countries in the developed world could spiral into economic decline. The ways in which people are meeting their partners are changing. In earlier times, people chose their partners from their immediate environment. They usually met and married the boy or girl next door. However, in the Age of global communication and mobility, next door may be thousands of miles away.
People have a much wider choice of potential mates.
They can select from all over the world, reaching thousands of possible partners across all kinds of cultural boundaries. This is the product of a much more mobile population where people can travel from one continent to another with relative ease. In the future, the emerging trend of marriages over the Internet is likely to increase as more and more people have access to the new technologies. However finding a mate will remain one of the most traditional areas of life for many people. For example, in India, the practice of arranged marriages remains extremely popular, and it is unlikely to disappear.