[en] This is the introduction to a special issue of RECEO devoted to recent changes in families in France, Georgia, Lithuania and Russia. The changes involve three major sets of factors : the anthropological dimension shown by patterns of intra-family relationships in the four countries; the political dimension, since each of the four has its own special history (three of them sharing a history over various periods); and an economic and social dimension, which constrains or frees demographic trajectories and is itself a combination of long-term transnational and national trends. The value of this arrangement is more heuristic than demonstrative. It is intended to place the various papers within the general framework of demographic change and provides a view of the main trends revealed by the composite indicators and measurements recorded by the GGS (Generations and Gender Surveys)1 carried out from 2004 to 2006 using a common questionnaire in the four countries selected. This is the English version of the original text published in Revue d'études comparatives Est/Ouest, 40(3-4), 2009.