The National Statistics Institute (INE) has released the data on births of the year 2015. And although it had been warning for years, finally the predictions have come true last year and for the first time in 75 years there were more deaths than births, plunging Spain into a serious demographic crisis.
The birth crisis is undoubtedly one of the faces of the economic crisis that the country has been going through in recent years. The historical unemployment rates, the reduction of aid and the reduction of benefits has made many couples decide not to have children, or have fewer than desired.
For the first time
It is an alarming situation. If there is no generational change, the whole society is tambaela. Until now, there had never been a similar situation since 1941, which is actually the first year for which data exists. It is something unpublished, and tremendously worrisome.
For the first time, in 2015 there was a negative vegetative growth. That is, 2,753 more people died than were born. The number of births in 2015 is the lowest recorded since 2002, than in the worst years of crisis.
#MNP In 2015 the vegetative balance was negative when registering 2,753 deaths more than births pic.twitter.com/jotoAMGv3u
- INE Spain (@es_INE) June 23, 2016
In addition, it is the sixth consecutive year in which there is a drop in birth data, with a 2% decrease compared to a 6.7% rise in deaths.
More negative data
The age of women who are mothers for the first time continues to increase. Each time they wait longer. The average maternity age rose to 31.9 years in 2015, compared to 31.8 in 2014. In just one decade it rose almost two years. However, the average number of children per woman rose slightly (1.33 compared to 1.32 in 2014).
Life expectancy was reduced by 0.2 years and stood at an age of 82.7. Among men it is 79.9 years and among women, 85.4 years, 0.2 less and 0.3 less than in 2014, respectively.
For its part, there are less women of childbearing age, a fact that according to the INE is due to a combination of three factors: they are less numerous generations born in the birth crisis of the 80s and first half of the 90s, there is a lower flow of immigration and emigrations have increased in recent years.
Why is it so worrying?
We cannot be amazed at something that was an announced crisis. Births have only registered declines since 1975 and the population is increasingly aging.
This not only affects population balance (there must be a balance between the number of births and deaths), but also has serious consequences at the economic level. Society cannot keep more retirees than people who are active, putting the productivity model at risk as well as the retirement and pension system.
Via | INE
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