For landenes egne statsborgere udvikler familiebegrebet sig langsomt, men det udvikler sig trods alt. Eksempelvis kan nævnes vedtagelsen af loven om registrerede parforhold i Frankrig.
For the nationals of a country, society makes progress slowly, but it does make progress, witness the PACS vote in France, but the notion of the family in the case of immigrants is inflexible.